A federal judge has ordered the imprisonment of Steve Bannon to begin before July 1. Bannon, a strategist who has been central to the rise of nationalist populism and xenophobia across borders and who served as an adviser in Donald Trump’s White House, remains a prominent ally of the Republican candidate and a key voice for the movement’s most extreme currents.
Bannon received a four-month sentence in 2022 for contempt after he refused to comply with a court summons to turn over documents and testify before a special congressional committee that investigated the assault on the Capitol. He appealed, and the judge who originally imposed the sentence, Carl Nichols, allowed him to remain free while the appeal moved forward.
Last month, however, three appellate judges reaffirmed the conviction. Although his lawyers have promised another appeal, Nichols issued the order for his imprisonment. The judge left a narrow route open for continued liberty if the higher court grants a stay on the sentence while the appeal progresses.
Bannon would become the second Trump aide to enter prison for contempt of Congress. Since March, Peter Navarro has been serving a four-month sentence in a Florida jail.
La reacción de Bannon
In his Washington, DC, court appearance this Thursday, Bannon pledged to keep appealing, potentially reaching the Supreme Court, even though the High Court previously refused to involve itself in Navarro’s case.
The strategist denounced Nichols’s decision as part of what he described as a campaign against the MAGA movement. He asserted that conservatives and the former president Trump are under attack, predicting a sweeping Republican victory in the November elections.
He stated that they would not be silenced, not Trump, not Navarro, not Bannon, and certainly not MAGA. The strategist continues to exert substantial influence within the far-right and maintains a popular podcast.
Otros problemas legales
The far-right figure also faces another pending case in Manhattan, where both the state prosecutor Letitia James and the local district attorney Alvin Bragg have accused him of fraud related to funds allegedly raised to build the border wall with Mexico. He had previously been convicted in a federal case for similar charges, but that occurred while Trump was in office and the then-president used his pardon power to grant relief in federal matters.
That fraud trial is scheduled to take place this year in the same courthouse where Trump has faced legal action and where the Republican candidate for the presidency is expected to be sentenced on a forthcoming date.