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Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon is headed to prison after an appeals court upheld his conviction for contempt of Congress.
He was handed a four-month sentence in 2022 for refusing to give evidence to a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But it was put on hold as he appealed, saying that he acted in good faith by following legal advice.
The decision came on Friday.
‘Bannon insists that ‘wilfully’ should be interpreted to require bad faith and argues that his non-compliance does not qualify because his lawyer advised him not to respond to the subpoena,’ wrote Judge Bradley Garcia.
Bannon speaks to the media as he arrives at federal court to be sentenced on October 21, 2022 in Washington, DC
A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday upheld Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from a congressional panel that investigated the Jan 6. attack on the U.S. Capitol
But, he continued, the court’s position is that ‘willfully’ only means deliberately.
‘Because we have no basis to depart from that binding precedent, and because none of Bannon’s other challenges to his conviction have merit, we affirm.’
Bannon was one of a string of Trump allies who refused to obey a subpoena to testify before the House investigation into the Jan. 6 violence, claiming ‘executive privilege’ protected conversations and other information related to the presidency.
He was held in contempt by the House on a largely party lines votes in October 2021.
Bannon joined the Trump campaign in 2016 and went to the White House as chief strategist.
But he lost a power struggle and was soon ousted. Since then he has become a key voice of Trump’s MAGA movement.
Peter Navarro, another Trump ally, reported to a federal prison in Miami last month, becoming the first former White House official to be imprisoned for contempt of Congress.
Bannon is seen in the State Dining Room of the White House in February 2017 with President Donald Trump and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk
