Will Bannon Get A Special Trump Family Prison Visit Too?

Justice Department prosecutors on Tuesday asked the judge who presided over former Trump White House strategist and far-right conspiracy theorist Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress case to order Bannon to begin serving his prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols had placed a stay on Bannon serving his four-month prison sentence while he appealed his contempt of Congress conviction. But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction last Friday.

“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,'” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb Jr. wrote in a filing Tuesday, which was first reported by ABC News.

“I’m shocked they want to silence the voice of MAGA,” Bannon told ABC News in response to the DOJ filing. It’s unclear when Nichols may respond to the DOJ’s request, but Bannon’s attorney David Schoen had previously indicated that Bannon would try to get the case reheard by the full D.C. Circuit court, as the Washington Post noted. Bannon could also ask the Supreme Court to get involved, but the high court just dismissed a similar request last month from former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro. Navarro had asked the court to block him from having to serve his sentence while he appealed his conviction.

Both Bannon and Navarro were found in contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with requests and subpoenas for testimony and documents from the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, which was probing the Capitol attack at the time. Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $6,500 back in October 2022, but hasn’t had to report to prison while he appealed.

Before reporting to federal prison in Miami in March, Navarro held a press conference at a gas station near the Federal Prison Camp, during which he pointed out the unfairness of Bannon being able to delay his jail time while he appealed the case. The difference appears to be that Bannon hadn’t yet exhausted his appeal options.

But once he does report to prison, the former Trump campaign manager and Breitbart co-founder may not get the same special treatment as Navarro has gotten from the Trump family. As I noted yesterday, Donald Trump Jr. recently paid Navarro a visit in prison to check in and offer his support. But that may be because Trump still likes Navarro.

While they remain supporters of one another’s work, Trump and Bannon have been at odds since Bannon exited the White House. Bannon left primarily because he couldn’t get along with Jared Kushner, but Trump also reportedly blamed Bannon for information getting leaked to the media. He also reportedly got tired of Bannon claiming too much credit for Trump’s electoral victory in 2016.

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said in 2018. “Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican Party.”

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