After finding former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon guilty of criminal contempt of Congress, a federal court in Washington, D.C., ordered Bannon to surrender to jail by July 1 in order to serve his four-month sentence.
The court issued the order during a hearing on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Judge Carl Nichols’ decision was made three weeks after federal prosecutors petitioned him to withdraw a stay on Bannon’s sentence while his conviction for disobeying a House committee subpoena regarding the Capitol disturbance of January 6, 2021, was being appealed.
In a unanimous decision on May 10, a panel of federal appeals court upheld Bannon’s conviction in the case.
David Schoen, Bannon’s attorney, responded anguishly to Nichols’ ruling during Thursday’s hearing. Nichols told NBC News, “One thing you have to learn as a lawyer is that you don’t stand up and start yelling when the judge has made his decision.”
As Schoen went on, the judge declared, “I’ve had enough.” “I’m not yelling,” the attorney shot back. Schoen contended that Nichols’ decision was “contrary to our system of justice” and stated, “You’re sending a man to prison who thought he was complying with the law, we don’t do that in my system.”
“I think you should sit down,” retorted Nichols. Outside the courtroom, Schoen said to reporters, “It’s a terrible decision; the decision has it wrong factually in many many ways.”
The Supreme Court must hear Bannon’s appeal, he said. Because Bannon’s attorney at the time had urged him not to cooperate with the House’s subpoena, Schoen has contended that Bannon was not guilty of contempt.
“I have excellent attorneys, and we will go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary,” Bannon told reporters on Thursday. He declared, “No prison or jail built will ever be able to stop me from talking.”
“Lock them up!” screamed a protestor as Bannon left. The protestor cried, “You’re a coup plotter!” “This is a botched coup!”
The United States Supreme Court or the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia may issue an order to stay Bannon’s jail term.
It is, however, legally unlikely that Bannon will succeed in either of those courts in obtaining a stay of his sentence or a reversal of his conviction.
After the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of his conviction for failing to abide by a subpoena from the House committee on January 6, Peter Navarro, another former adviser to former President Donald Trump, started serving a four-month federal jail sentence in March.