Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Trump, filed an emergency motion on Tuesday to block Trump from going to prison following his conviction for failing to comply with a House committee subpoena on Jan. 6, possibly pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The motion, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asks for a ruling by June 18, before Bannon’s scheduled appearance on July 1, to allow enough time to seek further relief from the Supreme Court if necessary. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington agreed to a Justice Department request and required Bannon to report to prison on July 1, after a federal appeals court upheld Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction in May.
“The political realities here are also undeniable. Mr. Bannon is a prominent political commentator and campaign strategist. He has been indicted by an Administration whose policies are frequent targets of his public statements,” the motion states. “The Government seeks to incarcerate Mr. Bannon at a time when millions of Americans are seeking information from him on critical election issues in the four months leading up to the November election. This would also effectively prevent Mr. Bannon from serving as a meaningful adviser to an ongoing national election campaign.”
“This is a landmark case. The prosecutors pursued a novel and aggressive theory of liability, and the case has attracted international attention,” Bannon’s lawyer, R. Trent McCotter, wrote. “If the Committee’s decision is upheld, it will have far-reaching implications, including separation of powers concerns. Before Mr. Bannon’s indictment, the last time a government had a jury convict someone for failing to properly respond to a congressional subpoena was 50 years ago, and congressional subpoenas have arguably been challenged throughout that time.”
Judge orders Steve Bannon to jail
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Trump, (center) and attorney Matthew Evan Corcoran (left) leave a courthouse in Washington, D.C., on June 6, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Bannon was convicted nearly two years ago on two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to testify before a House committee on Jan. 6 and another for refusing to provide documents related to Trump’s involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which showed President Biden winning.
Judge Nichols, who was appointed to the bench by President Trump in 2018, initially believed the case raised significant legal questions and let Bannon go free while he challenged his conviction. But during a hearing in federal court in Washington, Judge Nichols said the calculations had changed after a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found all of Bannon’s challenges to be without merit.
Tuesday’s motion came after Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in a New York City hush-money trial and faces a sentencing hearing next month just four days before the Republican National Convention, where the GOP is likely to formally announce Trump as its 2024 presidential candidate.
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Trump, appeared in Supreme Court in Manhattan, New York City, and had his trial date set for May 25, 2023. (Curtis Means Pool/Getty Images)
“Bannon intends to vigorously pursue the remaining appeals of this case and has retained experienced Supreme Court counsel,” his lawyers wrote in a letter on Tuesday, asking the court to grant his continued release because “there is no dispute that Mr. Bannon is not likely to abscond or pose a risk to the safety of others or the community if released. In fact, he has been released for years without incident and his “crimes” were non-violent.
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“Mr. Bannon faced what the Court described as an unprecedented situation in which Congress sought documents and testimony from former executive branch officials, but the former President’s counsel themselves required Mr. Bannon to uphold executive privilege in responding to the subpoena,” the motion read. “Mr. Bannon, acting on the advice of his counsel, requested that the Committee either resolve the privilege issue with the privilege holder or pursue the issue in civil litigation.”
At trial, Bannon’s lawyers argued that his former adviser had not ignored the subpoena and was negotiating in good faith with congressional committees at the time he was indicted.
The defense says Mr. Bannon was acting on the advice of his then-lawyer, who told him the subpoena was invalid because the committee had not allowed Mr. Trump’s lawyers to be present and that Mr. Bannon couldn’t determine what documents or testimony he could provide because Mr. Trump had asserted executive privilege.
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Trump, left the court after appearing at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on May 25, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
His lawyer, David Schoen, told the judge that it would be unfair to send Bannon to prison now because he will have served out his sentence before completing his appeals. Schoen said the case raises “serious constitutional questions” that need to be heard by the Supreme Court.
“In this country, we don’t send people to prison because we believe they’ve done something that violates the law,” he told reporters.
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Trump’s second-highest aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, was also found guilty of contempt of Congress and entered prison in March to serve a four-month sentence.
Bannon also faces criminal charges in New York state court for allegedly defrauding donors who funded a wall along the southern border of the U.S. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering, conspiracy and fraud, and the trial has been postponed until at least the end of September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
