In a belated victory for the January 6 Select Committee, a federal judge sentenced Steve Bannon to four months in prison for defying the Committee’s subpoena.
On Friday (October 21), Federal District Judge Carl Nichols ruled Bannon should pay a $6,500 fine alongside his four-month prison sentence.
Bannon will serve each of his contempt of Congress terms concurrently.
At the beginning of Friday’s hearing, Nichols noted Bannon lacked “remorse for his actions,” adding that the former White House strategist had “yet to demonstrate he has any intention of complying with the subpoena.”
The escalation of the saga between Bannon and the Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection began in September 2021, when the Committee subpoenaed Trump’s one-time White House strategist to provide required documents or testimony.
But Bannon received some reprieve, as Nichols agreed to stay the ruling while Bannon appealed his guilty verdict, potentially delaying Bannon’s prison service.
After listing the actions of dozens of rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, Nichols acknowledged the Committee “has every reason to investigate what happened that day, including who may have been involved in planning or instigating what happened.”
Nichols added that for most of the information the Committee sought from Bannon, “no conceivable claim” of executive privilege was feasible.
The Department of Justice’s prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Cooney, had argued that Bannon received a harsh sentence, explaining, “The importance of this case has everything to do with defendant’s obligations as a citizen of the United States.”
He added that Bannon should not be considered “above the law.”
