Trump Ally Steve Bannon Goes To Jail
Steve Bannon reported to prison on Monday to serve out the four-month sentence resulting from his 2022 conviction on charges of contempt of Congress.
The former White House adviser to Donald Trump and influential right-wing radio host surrendered himself to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, a low-security prison where he will serve out his sentence.
“President Trump is going to be sentenced to prison on July 11. Me going here for four months is nothing,” Bannon said during a press conference Monday outside of the penitentiary. As he attempted to speak, several protesters gathered around him chanted “lock him up!”
Bannon was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress in 2022, and ordered to pay a $6,500 fine after refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In a protracted legal battle that lasted more than two years, Bannon repeatedly attempted to appeal his conviction. The radio host argued that he had acted on the advice of legal counsel, and had not “willfully” defied the demands of lawmakers. The appeals judges overseeing his case were unconvinced.
Last month — in a last-ditch effort to avoid serving out his sentence — Bannon appealed his case all the way up to the Supreme Court, requesting a stay on his imprisonment as he continued to try and have the verdict overturned. The court declined to take up the case.
Over the weekend, Bannon sat for a pre-incarceration interview with ABC News. “I’m a political prisoner … It won’t change me. It will not suppress my voice. My voice will not be suppressed when I’m there,” he told This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
“I’m going to be more powerful in prison than I am now,” he told CNN last week, adding later in his final broadcast as a free man that he doesn’t “give two fucks about going to Danbury prison.”
Inmate #05635509 made clear that while he can’t use prison phones to run his business and War Room podcast, his show isn’t going anywhere, and he plans to continue providing regular commentary on the election — even if he has to do it inside a prison cell.
