Steve Bannon, a close confidant of ex-US president Donald Trump, has been ordered to start his four-month prison sentence by July 1st for his unwillingness to comply with a subpoena issued by the House committee investigating the US Capitol riot. The federal ruling was given by judge Carl Nichols last Thursday.
Bannon’s incarceration initiation was approved by Judge Nichols after the Justice Department’s request was backed by the judgement of a three-judge panel from a federal appeals court last month, who stood by the conviction of Bannon for contempt of congress.
Despite the developments, Bannon maintains his stance of challenging the judge’s decree, indicating a potential delay in his admission to prison. In his declaration to media after the court hearing, Bannon boasted about his legal team’s capability and expressed his intent to escalate the matter to supreme court, if deemed necessary.
Initially, Mr Nichols, who was chosen for the judiciary by Trump, had granted Bannon the liberty to fight his conviction freely. However, this discretion was argued against by the prosecutors, following a verdict from a panel of the US court of appeals for the DC Circuit that Bannon’s defences were groundless.
John Crabb, the prosecutor, deemed it a distant possibility for Bannon’s conviction dismissal by the full appeals court or the supreme court.
In 2022, Bannon was proven guilty of two instances of contempt of congress: his refusal firstly to appear for a deposition with the House Committee on January 6th and secondly, his reluctance to share documents highlighting his participation in Trump’s initiative to reverse the 2020 presidential election defeat to president Joe Biden.
During the trial, Bannon’s attorney countered that the accusations were driven by political bias and stressed that Bannon had not disregarded the subpoena. Instead, at the time of charging, he was actively involved in sincere negotiations with the congressional committee.
Bannon’s defence held the argument that he acted upon the counsel of his lawyer, who conveyed that the subpoena was void as the committee denied the presence of Trump’s lawyer in the room. He was also under the impression that he couldn’t ascertain what documents or testimonies he could give as Trump had invoked executive privilege.
David Schoen, Bannon’s defence attorney, stated it would be prejudiced to incarcerate Bannon at this stage; considering he may have served his sentence before his appeal rights were expired. He also asserted that the issue presents grave constitutional dilemmas worthy of the supreme court’s attention.
Schoen, addressing journalists, voiced, “In this country, we refrain from incarcerating anyone who believes their actions were in accordance with the law.”
In a related turn of events, another aide to Trump, Peter Navarro, who advised on trade matters, too faced a guilty verdict for showing contempt towards Congress. As punishment, he was incarcerated in March to see out his four-month imprisonment.
Even Navarro had clung to the argument that he was unable to co-operate with the committee since Trump had employed executive privilege. Nevertheless, this argument was dismissed by the courts due to Navarro’s inability to provide verification that Trump had indeed activated this right.
A comprehensive 18-month probe into the former president and the unprecedented uprising led to significant allegations. The report issued by the January 6th House committee insinuated that Trump had illegally been involved in a complex scheme with multiple parts, the objective of which was to upend the legitimate outcomes of the 2020 election. Furthermore, they concluded he had refrained from intervention to prevent his following from launching an assault on the Capitol. – AP