DOJ urges judge to jail Bannon now after conviction appeal fails

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to order Steve Bannon to begin his prison sentence now.

According to ABC News, "Prosecutors said there is no legal basis for Judge Carl Nichols to continue the stay on Bannon serving his sentence after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' conclusive ruling that rejected the basis for Bannon's appeal on all grounds."

Bannon, a right-wing podcaster who previously served as a political strategist for former President Donald Trump, was convicted of contempt of Congress for repeatedly refusing to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack.

Since his conviction in 2022, he has been fighting to have his four-month prison sentence overturned, but the appellate court rejected his argument earlier this month.

"There is no longer a 'substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial," prosecutors wrote in the filing.

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Nichols, a judge appointed by Trump, has come under controversy in the past. While he has overseen the convictions of a number of January 6 defendants, he also ruled that these participants can't be charged under obstruction of Congress statutes, a matter that has now been escalated to the Supreme Court.

Bannon is not the only member of Trump's circle who was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with January 6 investigators. Peter Navarro, the Trump administration's former trade policy adviser, was similarly convicted, and after his own lengthy appeals process that ended unsuccessfully, he reported to prison in March to begin serving his own four-month sentence.

All of this is unfolding as Trump's own trial for his role in the January 6 case is on hold pending a decision about presidential immunity from the Supreme Court — but he is separately undergoing a criminal trial in Manhattan for his role in an alleged business fraud scheme to conceal hush payments that concealed information about an affair from voters in 2016.