Additional Coverage:
- House GOP leaders go to bat for Bannon in bid to keep him out of jail for defying Jan. 6 panel (newsbreak.com)
Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Donald Trump known for his far-right streaming content, is receiving backing from some House Republicans in his effort to avoid serving time in prison.
A House Republican has even approached the Supreme Court to back Bannon’s final attempt to elude federal custody, scheduled to begin on July 1.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has previously been disparaged by Bannon, is collaborating with GOP leadership to challenge Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction in a federal appeals court. This conviction came after Bannon disregarded a subpoena from a congressional committee probing the events of January 6.
Johnson, alongside House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, has chosen to reject findings from the House select committee, critiquing it as improperly conducted under the leadership of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who they accuse of overstepping her bounds.
In a Supreme Court brief supporting Bannon, Republican Representative Barry Loudermilk argued that the select committee wrongfully accused Bannon of avoiding a deposition, urging the court to dismiss the prosecution as legally flawed.
Loudermilk’s appeal was submitted through a lawyer affiliated with the Trump-supporting America First Legal Foundation, led by another former Trump advisor, Stephen Miller.
In a recent move, another faction of House Republicans proposed a resolution to annul Bannon’s subpoena and the recommendation of contempt of Congress against him.
Despite Bannon’s harsh criticism of Johnson, including derogatory comments for not defending Trump adequately, the GOP appears united in their effort to support Bannon.
Bannon faces a four-month prison sentence similar to Peter Navarro, another Trump aide penalized for ignoring a subpoena from the committee investigating the Capitol attack. Although sentenced in October 2022, Bannon’s prison time was postponed pending an appeal, which was recently upheld, with a judge agreeing with prosecutors that Bannon has no legal reason to avoid imprisonment.
Bannon’s contempt charges stem from his refusal to participate in an interview and to hand over documents to the January 6 committee concerning efforts to contest Trump’s election defeat in 2020.
A report from the final committee uncovered a plan backed by the Trump campaign to overturn the election results, which culminated in a violent breach of Congress by Trump supporters.
Trump is currently facing legal challenges in Georgia and Washington, DC, for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Additionally, Bannon is set to stand trial in Manhattan on charges of money laundering and conspiracy later this year. The initial presiding judge, New York Justice Juan Merchan, who recently convicted Trump on multiple charges of falsifying business records, has been replaced due to a scheduling conflict.