Former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon arrives at the Federal District Court House for the fifth day of his contempt of Congress trial on July 22, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Former Trump White House senior strategist Steve Bannon has been ordered by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to surrender to federal prison by July 1.
At a Thursday morning hearing before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, who was appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, the defendant’s bail was revoked after a lengthy, and ultimately unsuccessful, effort to reverse his two convictions on contempt of Congress charges.
As Law&Crime previously reported, prosecutors asked the court to lift a stay of Bannon’s four-month sentence roughly two weeks ago after his appeal was rejected by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
That request came by way of a May 14 motion to lift the stay of sentence pending appeal filed in the D.C. District Court. Bannon, conversely, argued the court lacked authority to grant the request.
Nichols, sitting in the Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse at 333 Constitution Ave. NW, obliged the government’s request.
In revoking Bannon’s bail, Nichols said the original reasons for staying the sentence were no longer applicable due to the appeals process having played out to the extent it was likely to bear fruit.
“I do not believe that the original basis for my stay of Mr. Bannon’s sentence exists anymore,” Nichols said in a ruling from the bench, according to a courtroom report by Politico.
The bench ruling was quickly committed to the record in the form a minute order noting another order was forthcoming.
Further appeals in Bannon’s case are potentially in the offing that could, at least in theory, see the sentence stayed again.
The defendant still has the option of pleading his case in the form of an en banc appeal before the fully D.C. Circuit Court – previously, his appeal was rejected by a three-judge panel of that court.
Notably, Nichols said the sentence was non-negotiable in his court unless the full court of appeals takes up Bannon’s case between now and July 1, according to a courtroom report by Courthouse News Service. The defendant has until June 24 to make such a plea.
Then, there’s the final option of petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court. Decisions from the recent in the strikingly similar case of former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, however, suggest the nine justices are unlikely to heed the call.
Navarro was also found guilty of contempt of Congress, sentenced to four months incarceration, and sought refuge from prison with a series of last-ditch appeals in the federal court system – with the only wrinkle in his case being a less forgiving district judge who declined to stay his sentence on appeal. In turn, both the court of appeals and the nation’s high court rejected such pleas.
Prosecutors specifically analogized a predicted Bannon appeal along the lines of Navarro’s somewhat congruent case.
“Analogously, a stay of sentence in United States v. Peter Navarro, another contempt of Congress case, was denied by the District Court and the D.C. Circuit,” the government wrote in a footnote in their May motion. “The Supreme Court likewise denied a successive application for release pending appeal, albeit on procedural grounds.”
The defendant, for his part, expressed determination to chart such a course as the days and weeks continue.
“We’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” Bannon said after the revocation of bail, according to Politico. “There’s not a prison built or jail built that will shut me up.”
Depending on when Bannon finally reports to prison, his sentence could see him remain behind bars until a week before Election Day — which will be held on Nov. 5, 2024. Should he report to prison ahead of the deadline, however, the defendant would likely be out by early October instead.
Bannon was convicted by a jury in July 2022 on two counts of the contempt charge, for defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition. The jury took less than three hours to deliberate. Before trial, Nichols had barred Bannon’s anticipated defenses at trial, largely finding them irrelevant to the charged crimes.
Bannon was sentenced in October 2022 for his failure to comply with those subpoenas issued by the since-defunct House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Respect for Congress is of course an important piece of our Constitutional system,” Nichols said at that sentencing, also imposing a $6,500 fine.
This is a developing story.
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report
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