Steve Bannon, the loudest advisor to Donald Trump during his time as president, has been sentenced to four months in prison and a fine of $6,500 for contempt of Congress for ignoring his summons to testify and provide documents before the investigative committee of the assault perpetrated against the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
However, the execution of the ruling remains on hold while waiting for the defense to file an appeal, as has already been announced, and the corresponding court resolves it.
The sentence, handed down in Washington by federal judge Carl Nichols, is not only a setback for the condemned man and all the protagonists of the insurrection against the United States parliament, but also an important recognition of the coercive powers of Congress when it comes to demanding cooperation of the witnesses called to collaborate in this and other investigations of the legislators.
A jury found Bannon, last July, guilty of two contempt crimes: one for refusing to testify in the investigation of the 6-E committee and the other for not delivering the documents that the body demanded. Each charge carried a maximum prison sentence of one year.
Prosecutors from the Department of Justice asked the former presidential adviser for a sentence of 6 months in prison plus a $200,000 fine. They alleged, among other things, that by "disobeying" the committee's subpoena, Bannon "exacerbated" the assault on the rule of law that the attack on Capitol Hill represented.
In the hearing prior to the reading of the ruling, Judge Nichols recalled and supported the allegation of the Public Ministry that Bannon never showed signs of repentance and, instead, repeatedly attacked the committee” of the House of Representatives. "On this point I agree" with the Prosecutor's Office; the defendant "has expressed no remorse for his actions," the magistrate said.
Bannon took refuge at the time in some alleged prerogatives of immunity and shielding of the former president that would allow members of his team, him among them, to avoid inquiries such as that of the 6-E committee. In this regard, the representative of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, Joseph Cooney, considered that Trump's former adviser "hid behind a supposed executive privilege to mock Congress." And "it must be made clear to the public," he added, "that no one, regardless of his means, his position and the influence of his friends or his patrons, is above the law."
According to the investigations of the 6-E committee, which this Friday formalized its already announced summons to Trump, Bannon spoke with the then outgoing president at least twice on the eve of the attack on Capitol Hill. He also attended a planning meeting at a hotel in Washington and, hours before the assault, said that on January 6, "hell" was going to break loose in front of the headquarters of Congress to prevent its members from ratifying Joe Biden's victory over Trump. in the presidential elections of the previous November 3.
Bannon, 68, has more problems with the Justice. He is charged with five charges related to the diversion of more than a million dollars of funds intended for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. The Prosecutor's Office accuses him in this case of two serious crimes of money laundering, two others of conspiracy and one of intrigue for fraud, for which he could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
