Appeals Court last week upheld criminal conviction of ex-Trump adviser for defying a subpoena to appear before House Democrats’ January 6 Committee.
Prosecutors with Joe Biden’s Justice Department on Tuesday requested the judge overseeing ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress case order that he begin serving his 4-month prison sentence.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last week rejected Bannon’s appeal on all grounds.
“Consequently, there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,’” prosecutors wrote in their filing Tuesday.
While awaiting #TrumpTrial resumption at 9:30, just filed in DDC, this: DOJ asking for stay of sentence for Steve Bannon to be lift, given DC Circuit’s recent denial of his appeal. On alert for any response – watch this feed pic.twitter.com/t0ae69Ai1c
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 14, 2024
“I’m shocked they want to silence the voice of MAGA,” Bannon told ABC News on Tuesday.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt in October 2022, but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the decision.
The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its opinion Friday, “We conclude that none of the information sought in the trial subpoenas was relevant to the elements of the contempt offense, nor to any affirmative defense Bannon was entitled to present at trial.”
“The judgment of conviction and sentence [is] affirmed,” the judges concluded.
Bannon is the second Trump adviser the DOJ has sought to jail.
White House adviser Peter Navarro began serving his 4-month prison term in March for also refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 Committee.
The Biden DOJ’s efforts to jail Trump and his advisers appear to be a desperate bid to turn polling around for Biden, who’s currently losing to Trump in most battleground states by wide margins despite the lawfare against him.
Ironically, the House Oversight Committee is moving to hold DOJ Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide audio files of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Biden despite a subpoena from the committee.
“The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees issued lawful subpoenas to Attorney General Garland for the audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Hur, yet he continues to defy our subpoenas,” Comer wrote on Monday.
“These audio recordings are important to our investigation of President Biden’s willful retention of classified documents and his fitness to be President of the United States,” he added. “There must be consequences for refusing to comply with lawful congressional subpoenas and we will move to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress.”
Even if Garland is somehow successfully held in contempt of Congress, it’s unlikely he’d actually be held accountable because he’s a top Democrat and Biden official.
Likewise, Hunter Biden in December defied a congressional subpoena to appear privately for a deposition before Republican investigators who have been digging into his business dealings. GOP lawmakers’ efforts to move forward with contempt of Congress proceedings in January stalled out in the House.
