Steve Bannon sentencing updates: Former Trump adviser faces up to 2 years
Steve Bannon #SteveBannon
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced today following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he defied a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel for records and testimony in September of last year. He refused to comply and was found guilty of contempt in July.
Latest Developments Oct 21, 9:56 AM Prosecutor says Bannon ‘not above the law’
Federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen.
“It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury … that no one is above the law,” Cooney said. “He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress.”
“He had an interest in making a public spectacle of the committee’s hearings,” Cooney told the judge, saying that Bannon “has tried to make it about nothing but politics and retribution.”
Oct 21, 9:45 AM Judge ‘tends to agree’ with DOJ on guidelines
The hearing got underway with Judge Carl Nichols saying he tended to agree with the government on the sentencing guidelines.
The judge said that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions” and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.
Bannon attorney David Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.
Nichols, however, rejected that argument, saying the statute is clear on the point that there is a mandatory minimum of 30 days and a mandatory maximum of 12 months.
Oct 21, 9:10 AM Bannon arrives at courthouse
Bannon arrived at the courthouse before 9 a.m. He thanked the TV news cameras for being there and called the Biden administration illegitimate.
He also thanked a woman who was chanting “traitor.”
Oct 21, 8:43 AM ‘This is just Round 1’
Bannon, whose sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. EST, blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee on his way out of the courtroom after being found guilty in July.
“We may have lost a battle here today, but we’re not going to lose this war,” he said. “[The jury] came to their conclusion about what was put on in the in that courtroom. But listen, in the closing argument, the prosecutor missed one very important phrase, right? ‘I stand with Trump and the Constitution, and I will never back off that, ever.'”
Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen, said that Bannon’s defense team would appeal the case, saying, “This is just Round 1.”
Oct 21, 8:17 AM Bannon ‘willing to pay any fine’
Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced this morning in Washington, D.C. He was interviewed as part of the court’s presentencing investigation, but prosecutors said he refused to disclose any information about his finances.
They did, however, say that Bannon insisted “that he is willing and able to pay any fine imposed, including the maximum fine on each count of conviction,” according to Monday’s court filing.
“For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment — the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines’ range — and fined $200,000 — based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation,” prosecutors said in Monday’s filing.
Oct 21, 6:55 AM DOJ seeks 6 months’ jail time for Bannon
The Department of Justice is seeking six months in prison and a fine of $200,000 when Steve Bannon is sentenced this morning, according to a court filing Monday.
The adviser to former President Donald Trump was convicted in July on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he refused to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
“From the time he was initially subpoenaed, the Defendant has shown that his true reasons for total noncompliance have nothing to do with his purported respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or executive privilege, and everything to do with his personal disdain for the members of Congress sitting on the Committee and their effort to investigate the attack on our country’s peaceful transfer of power,” prosecutors said in Monday’s filing. “[Bannon’s] abject refusal to heed the Committee’s subpoena, under the circumstances with which this country is confronted, could not be more serious.”
Bannon faces a maximum sentence of one year per count, for a total of two years behind bars.
In his own sentencing memorandum Bannon asked that he be sentenced to a period of probation and is seeking a stay of any sentence pending appeal of his conviction.