Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Friday filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to remain out of prison for his contempt of Congress conviction.
Bannon was ordered by Judge Carl Nichols to surrender to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence.
“An even-handed approach thus strongly favors allowing Mr. Bannon to remain on release,” Bannon’s attorney argued in Friday’s filing.
Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Donald Trump, attends an event held by the national conservative political movement, ‘Turning Point,’ June 15, 2024, in Detroit.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
“There is also no denying the fact that the government seeks to imprison Mr. Bannon for the four-month period immediately preceding the November presidential election,” Bannon’s attorney said. “There is no reason for that outcome in a case that presents substantial legal issues.”
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 a federal appeals court upheld the criminal conviction in May, prosecutors requested Bannon begin serving his prison term.
“All of this is about one thing. Shutting down the MAGA movement. Shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump,” Bannon said to reporters in June.
