Steve Bannon Says DOJ Wants To ‘Silence Voice Of MAGA’ By Requesting He Begins Prison Sentence
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Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Tuesday argued the Justice Department is trying to silence “the voice of MAGA” after federal prosecutors called on a judge to lift the stay on his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House panel tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Prosecutors cited the ruling of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released last week, which affirmed Bannon’s conviction, in their request for the judge to order Bannon to begin serving his sentence.
“Consequently, there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,’” the prosecutors wrote in their motion. “Under these circumstances, the Court ‘shall order’ defendant ‘be detained.’”
In response, Bannon claimed this was another effort by the prosecution to keep conservatives quiet.
“I’m shocked they want to silence the voice of MAGA,” he told ABC News.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in 2022 after a federal jury found him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena by the now-defunct Jan. 6 House panel for testimony as well as communications and documents. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols delayed enforcement of the sentence to allow the longtime Trump ally to appeal.
The federal appeals court, which reviewed his challenges, on Friday, said Bannon’s arguments, including that the committee’s subpoena was invalid to begin with, lacked merit, affirming his conviction and sentence.
Nichols has not yet issued a decision on the motion but has set Thursday as the deadline for Bannon’s lawyers to respond to the prosecution.
Bannon was instrumental to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later served as a chief strategist in the White House for just months. He remains an important Trump ally.
Meanwhile, another former Trump aide, Peter Navarro, is serving a four-month jail sentence after being found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with a subpoena by the Jan. 6 committee. Navarro’s appeal went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Chief Justice John Roberts rejected his bid to remain free.
One of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., told ABC he visited Navarro in the federal Miami prison where he was being held and said he was in “good spirits.”
Trump Jr. added, “It’s important to show support.”
