The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to deny Steve Bannon’s request to stay his sentence.
Bannon is due to report to prison on July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence after his contempt of Congress conviction, which was upheld by an appeals court in May. He asked the Supreme Court last week to stay the sentence while he further appeals his conviction for ignoring a Jan. 6 subpoena from the committee.
Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger wrote Wednesday that Bannon “cannot make the rigorous showing necessary to set aside the normal requirement that a convicted defendant begin serving his sentence.”
“[Bannon]”Mr. Biden, who worked for former President Donald J. Trump for seven months in 2017, left the White House years before the date of the requested information,” she wrote. “He nonetheless argued that some of the requested information may be protected from disclosure by presidential communications executive privilege. However, former President Trump did not invoke any privilege before the Committee, and President Biden has affirmatively waived any applicable privilege.”
“However, the applicants did not comply with any of the subpoenas, did not produce any documents, and refused to appear at scheduled depositions,” Preloger continued. (Related article: Steve Bannon’s prison sentence will be served in the same facility as violent criminals: Report)
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 6: Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Donald Trump, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC on June 6, 2024. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Bannon’s lawyers argued that the case raises “serious legal questions” and that there is “no reason” to jail him “for four months immediately preceding the November presidential election.” They noted that the last time a jury convicted someone of contempt of Congress was “50 years ago.”
“It is wrong to suggest that release criteria should depend on the shortness of a sentence or that people will be serving their sentences in the months leading up to a presidential election,” Preloger countered.
“The latter is a completely irrelevant factor under bail reform law, and the former is also irrelevant when, as in this case, the defendant does not request sentencing,” she wrote.
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