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Steve Bannon Released From Prison After Serving 4 Months for Contempt of Congress

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Bannon, 70, was convicted of contempt of Congress.

Steve Bannon, who served as a high White Home adviser early on within the Trump administration, was launched from jail on Oct. 29 after serving 4 months for contempt of Congress.

“The 4 months in federal jail not solely didn’t break me, it empowered me,” he mentioned throughout his “WarRoom” podcast. “I’m extra energized and extra targeted than I’ve ever been in my complete life.”
Bannon, 70, was serving time within the Federal Correctional Establishment in Danbury, Connecticut. His launch comes after a federal decide on Oct. 22 denied his request for early launch. Bannon entered jail in July after the Supreme Court docket refused to take up his request to keep away from his four-month sentence.

When he started serving his sentence in July, Bannon referred to as himself a “political prisoner.”

“I’m happy with going to jail,” he mentioned on the time, including that he was standing as much as Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland and what he referred to as a “corrupt” Justice Division.

A jury convicted him in 2022 for 2 counts of contempt of Congress after he refused to adjust to requests from the Home choose committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.

Bannon, 70, claimed that former President Donald Trump had prolonged govt privilege over his testimony. Bannon’s legal professional, David Schoen, informed the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the district court docket had wrongly excluded proof surrounding one other legal professional advising Bannon that he didn’t should adjust to the subpoenas as a result of Trump had invoked that privilege.

“At a naked minimal, it’s required that the defendant know or perceive that his or her conduct was illegal or mistaken,” Schoen informed the court docket in November 2023.

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“Mr. Bannon acted in the one approach he believed and understood from his lawyer that the legislation permitted him … to behave in response to the subpoena.”

The appeals court docket mentioned that below its precedent, Bannon’s advice-of-attorney protection “isn’t any protection in any respect.”

“As each this court docket and the Supreme Court docket have repeatedly defined, a opposite rule would contravene the textual content of the contempt statute and hamstring Congress’s investigatory authority,” Choose Brad Garcia mentioned, writing for the court docket.

“As a result of we’ve got no foundation to depart from that binding precedent, and since none of Bannon’s different challenges to his convictions have advantage, we affirm.”

Bannon faces different legal expenses in New York, the place a decide has set Dec. 9 as the beginning date for the trial in his border fundraising case. Prosecutors allege that Bannon helped funnel greater than $100,000 to a co-founder of the nonprofit WeBuildTheWall Inc. who was allegedly getting a secret wage after Bannon and others had promised donors that each greenback can be used to assist assemble a wall alongside the U.S.–Mexico border.

Bannon has pleaded not responsible to cash laundering and conspiracy expenses, calling them “nonsense.” In 2021, Trump pardoned Bannon in a federal case much like the one he’s at the moment going through from New York prosecutors.

That case was introduced by Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s workplace, which additionally prosecuted Trump for alleged election interference involving a fee to grownup performer Stephanie Clifford, often called Stormy Daniels. Trump equally pleaded not responsible.

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Bannon entered jail the identical month that one other former Trump White Home adviser, Peter Navarro, exited below related circumstances. Navarro claimed govt privilege in defying a congressional subpoena, however D.C. District Choose Amit Mehta mentioned he hadn’t proven sufficient proof the privilege was asserted.

Trump is going through potential jail time for his function within the occasions of Jan. 6, 2021, however has efficiently prevented trial in Washington. His attraction on presidential immunity resulted in a landmark Supreme Court docket case and a prolonged delay of the pre-trial course of for particular counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of him.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

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