A Washington, D.C. appeals court on Thursday rejected Steve Bannon’s attempt to avoid prison.
Earlier this month, Bannon asked a federal appeals court to stay his impending prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
The court denied Bannon’s request, finding that his arguments “do not justify a departure from general principles.” The committee unanimously ruled that an injunction was not justified because Bannon’s arguments did not raise “any issue so delicate or so likely to be adversely determined.”
In early June, a federal judge ordered a former adviser to former President Trump to report to prison by July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena from a House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
In its ruling Thursday, the committee said Bannon “knew what the subpoena sought but willfully refused to appear and refused to produce the documents requested.”
The committee also rejected Bannon’s claim that he “willfully” refused the House committee’s request. The justices cited Supreme Court opinions that have “consistently recognized” that willful is a “word with many meanings.”
“We have not presented any basis for concluding that a higher court could override the established understanding of ‘willfully’ in the context of flouting a clear obligation to comply with a congressional subpoena,” the justices wrote.
Bannon was convicted in 2022 for failing to appear at a Jan. 6 deposition before a House committee and refusing to turn over documents.
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Bannon’s appeal of his conviction, and the Justice Department moved quickly to jail him.
Bannon can now choose to ask the full appeals court to review Thursday’s ruling or ask the Supreme Court, a step his lawyers have said they are prepared to take if necessary.
He is one of two people indicted and convicted for failing to comply with the committee’s orders on January 6. Former adviser to President Trump, Peter Navarro, is currently serving a four-month sentence for contempt.
The Hill has reached out to Bannon’s lawyers for comment.
