Steve Bannon launches last-ditch attempt to avoid going to prison for defying January 6 subpoena

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Steve Bannon asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to let him stay out of prison as he pursues another attempt to overturn a two-year-old conviction for criminal contempt of Congress.

Donald Trump's former chief strategist is due to report to prison authorities on July 1, after a ruling in his case last week.

But he launched an 11th hour attempt to stave off his four-month statement by asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overrule that order.

In an emergency 36-page motion, his legal team argues that imprisonment would prevent him working on the election. 

'The government seeks to imprison Mr. Bannon for the four-month period leading up to the November election, when millions of Americans look to him for information on important campaign issues,' wrote Trent McCotter, one of Bannon's lawyers. 

Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Donald Trump, and attorney Matthew Evan Corcoran, depart the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on June 6, 2024 in Washington,

'This would also effectively bar Mr. Bannon from serving as a meaningful adviser in the ongoing national campaign.' 

Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison after a jury in 2022 found him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for declining to appear before the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack and for refusing to hand over documents.

However trial judge Carl Nichols allowed him to remain free as he appealed the conviction. 

That changed a week ago after a higher court rejected Bannon's appeal. Nichols said he did not believe that the 'original basis' for his stay of the sentence existed any longer.

However, that did not exhaust Bannon's avenues for appeal. And his lawyers have asked for a decision by June 18, so that they can take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.   

'This is a landmark case. The prosecution pursued a novel and aggressive theory of liability, and the case garnered international attention,' wrote McCotter. 

'If the panel decision stands, there will be far-reaching consequences, including separation-of-powers concerns. 

'Before the prosecution of Mr. Bannon, it had been 50 years since the government convinced a jury to convict someone for not adequately responding to a congressional subpoena—and there has certainly been no shortage of disputes over congressional subpoenas during that time.'

Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads "Come and Take It," during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021

Bannon was convicted of failing to comply with a subpoena by the House January 6 Committee

Another former Trump aide, economic advisor Peter Navarro, is currently serving a four-month sentence in a Florida prison after being convicted of similar charges. Navarro helped promote a plan he dubbed the 'Green Bay Sweep' that became part of Trump's election overturn effort.  

Bannon has raised a defense of counsel defense saying he relied on a lawyer's advice when failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. Trump also tried to muster such an argument, citing advice by Michael Cohen in the Stormy Daniels payoff. 

Bannon helped helm meetings at a strategy 'war room' at the Willard Hotel in Washington that brought together key figures in the election overturn effort. 

'I've got great lawyers, and we’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,' Bannon said outside court last week after being ordered to prison.

'There's nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up. There's not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up,' he said, while a protester held up a 'Lock them up' sign. 

'They're not going to shut up Trump. They're not going to shut up Navarro. They're not going to shut up Bannon, and they're certainly not going to shut up MAGA,' he said.