He won’t do a day in jail on this case, at least not today. His appeal is already in the works, and since its a sentence not to exceed the prosecutors recommendation of 6 months in jail, he’ll be allowed to stay out on bail pending his appeal, which could take years to resolve. Oh how everyone relished in the glory of Bannon going to jail for his crimes. But we were all misled of course.
Due to a friendly Trump Judge, Judge Nichols, who already hinted that he believes Bannon has an appeal, he won’t do much to him other than possibly give him 3 months suspended, and allow him to appeal the case, and the end of that appeal will get the case tossed on some procedural ground or whatever.
Bannon has other more serious charges over the Build The Wall fraud in New York next year, so I guess many will have to wait on that outcome for justice for Bannon’s crimes. Even if he got a lenient Judge who gave him only 5 years on that case, it’s pretty much a death sentence for Bannon, as he’s aged out, fat, morbidly obese, probably has major diabetes and liver problems ,and a host of other maladies to make a 5 year case a death sentence for him.
Story below:
Former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon heads to a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., Friday, where he’ll be sentenced for criminal contempt of Congress.
Bannon flouted demands for documents and testimony from the panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers on the House Select Committee wanted to know why he said a day before the siege that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Federal prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to throw the book at Bannon. They’re seeking what they describe as a “severe” penalty: six months in jail and a fine of $200,000. In court papers earlier this week, they said Bannon pursued “a bad faith strategy of defiance and contempt.”
The Justice Department took the unusual step of listing a series of bombastic and demeaning statements Bannon made about the justice system and lawmakers in their court filing.
He called House Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., “gutless” and said the panel is conducting a “show trial.” Bannon used his podcast, which traffics in conspiracy theories, to target people he considered his political enemies.
Bannon refused to turn over even a single piece of paper to the Jan. 6 committee, and he also refused to cooperate with the probation office in advance of his sentencing, prosecutor J.P. Cooney wrote.
After his indictment last year, Bannon promised reporters, “this is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden.”
Things didn’t turn out that way. Bannon put on no defense during his trial in July and a jury took fewer than three hours to convict him.
No one has been incarcerated for contempt of Congress in decades
Bannon’s lawyers say a sentence that involves incarceration would be wrong, because he didn’t believe he was breaking the law. Rather, they say, Bannon was following advice from his previous attorney.
“Should a person who has spent a lifetime listening to experts – as a naval officer, investment banker, corporate executive, and Presidential advisor – be jailed for relying on the advice of his lawyers?” wrote Bannon lawyers Evan Corcoran and David Schoen in a court filing.
Bannon wants to remain free pending an appeal. And there are some signs that Judge Nichols might buy Bannon’s argument.
The judge expressed concern about a 60-year-old legal precedent that says DOJ only needs to prove Bannon made a deliberate choice not to comply, not that he had an improper motive. No one has been incarcerated for contempt of Congress in several decades.
The Justice Department this year declined to prosecute Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, and Dan Scavino, a deputy, after prosecutors concluded they had provided some cooperation to congressional investigators.
But former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro seems headed for trial in November on misdemeanor charges of criminal contempt for stiffing the Jan. 6 panel, too.
Unlike Bannon, who left the White House in 2017 after a rift with former President Trump, Navarro remained working for the administration for years. Navarro is fighting the charges and making legal arguments about Trump’s power to assert executive privilege, and Justice Department memos protecting confidential advice that aides offer to presidents.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/21/1130327514/steve-bannon-sentencing-jan-6-committee
