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GOP Lawmaker Devises Plan To Keep Steve Bannon Out Of Jail

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


A Republican lawmaker has laid out a plan to keep Steve Bannon, a former top political adviser to then-President Donald Trump, out of prison after a federal judge ordered him to report later this month.

“@SpeakerJohnson, why don’t we rescind the Congressional subpoena for Steve Bannon and officially repudiate the J6 committee by a vote of Congress?” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky posted to his X account.

Massie’s call comes after U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered Bannon on Thursday to report to prison on July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for ignoring a congressional subpoena and being convicted of contempt of Congress.

Following the judge’s ruling, Bannon addressed the cameras outside the courthouse, restating his intention to appeal his conviction and criticizing top officials at the Justice Department, ABC News reported.

“All of this is about one thing. Shutting down the MAGA movement. Shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump,” Bannon said.

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“There’s not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up,” Bannon said.

The outlet continued:

Bannon was sentenced to four months for contempt of Congress in October 2022 after he was found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but Judge Nichols agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the conviction.

After the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Bannon’s conviction last month, federal prosecutors requested that the judge order Bannon to begin his four-month sentence. Prosecutors have said there is no legal basis for Judge Nichols to continue the stay on Bannon serving his sentence after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ conclusive ruling that rejected the basis for Bannon’s appeal on all grounds.

“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,'” prosecutors wrote in a filing last month.

In a follow-up to his post, Massie responded to an X user who suggested he simply walk over to Johnson’s office and make the request personally.

“#1. He’s not going to do it just because it’s a good idea. He has to hear from Americans. You can stay on the couch, just pick up your phone and dial,” Massie wrote. “#2. We only worked in DC for 3 days this week. Johnson canceled today because Pelosi asked him to due to D-day anniversary.”

One user, Proud Army Brat, responded to Massie’s suggestion this way: “Public persuasion will help him make his decisions? Since when? We’ve been nonstop screaming at him, relentlessly, to defund the border and he ignored us. We were extremely vocal about his funding of UKR over our country. He doesn’t care what we think. Look, I appreciate what you, and a handful of other Reps do on behalf of us, and I truly trust you will be very proactive in reaching out to him regarding Bannon. ”

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Bannon is the second former Trump adviser to be sent to prison for contempt of Congress, and for the same reason. Peter Navarro received a four-month jail sentence in January due to his refusal to comply with a subpoena regarding the congressional inquiry into the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. He was convicted on two counts, each of which carries a one-month prison sentence.

Prosecutors urged US District Judge Amit Mehta to impose a sentence of six months for each count, to be served concurrently, and to impose a fine of $200,000. They told the judge that a one-month sentence for each of the two charges “does not adequately address, penalize, and discourage the defendant’s criminal acts,” asserting that Navarro’s refusal to comply with the subpoenas was similar to the behavior of certain individuals involved in the riot.

“The defendant, like the rioters at the Capitol, put politics, not country, first and stonewalled Congress’s investigation,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”

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