WASHINGTON — The Division of Justice requested a federal choose Monday to condemn former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to 6 months in jail and a superb of $200,000 for contempt of Congress.
In a 24-page sentencing memorandum filed Monday within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, prosecutors known as Bannon’s refusal to adjust to a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee a “sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress.”
The Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol repeatedly sought paperwork and testimony from Bannon however he “flouted the Committee’s authority and ignored the subpoena’s calls for,” prosecutors mentioned.
“To today the Defendant has not produced a single doc to the Committee or appeared for testimony,” they added.
Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, precisely a 12 months after he was held in contempt by the Home.
The memo mentioned that Bannon, who served as an adviser to former President Donald Trump, “deserves extreme punishment” for his actions.
“The rioters who overran the Capitol on January 6 didn’t simply assault a constructing — they assaulted the rule of regulation upon which this nation was constructed and thru which it endures. By flouting the Choose Committee’s subpoena and its authority, the Defendant exacerbated that assault,” it mentioned.
A jury discovered Bannon responsible in July on two counts of contempt of Congress for blowing off the Home Jan. 6 committee. On the time, Bannon and his legal professionals made clear they deliberate to enchantment, with legal professional David Schoen describing the decision as “spherical one” in an extended battle.
Bannon surrendered to federal authorities over the costs in Nov. 2021 after he was indicted by a federal grand jury. One of many counts was for refusing to seem for a deposition and the opposite was for declining to provide paperwork requested by the committee.
Bannon was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign after which served as a prime aide for his first seven months in workplace, exiting the administration in August 2017. Bannon offered casual recommendation to Trump and his crew after the 2020 election and forward of the Jan. 6 riot. The Jan. 6 committee has pointed to feedback Bannon made on his podcast the day earlier than the rebellion for instance of why he ought to reply questions.
In the meantime, Bannon can be on trial in a separate case through which he was charged with defrauding donors who had been giving cash to construct a wall on the southern U.S. border.
