Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has asked a federal appeals court to delay his imminent prison sentence while he continues to fight his criminal contempt of Congress conviction.
The 70-year-old far right-wing pundit filed an emergency motion Tuesday evening, requesting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overrule an order that requires him to report to prison on July 1.
Bannon was ordered to spend four months behind bars in 2022, after a jury found him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress, stemming from his refusal to appear for a deposition before the Jan. 6 panel and his failure to hand over documents related to the efforts to overturn the results of 2020 presidential election.
Bannon has remained free in the two years since, amid his efforts to appeal. But a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit last month upheld Bannon’s conviction, prompting the trial judge who presided over his case, Trump-appointee Carl Nichols, to set a date for him to begin serving his sentence. Nichols said the “original basis” for his stay of Bannon’s sentence no longer applied after the court declined to overturn his conviction.
In the 36-page filing, obtained by NBC News, Bannon’s legal team warned of “far-reaching consequences” if their client is not allowed to remain free.
“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,” attorney Trent McCotter wrote. “This would also effectively bar Mr. Bannon from serving as a meaningful advisor in the ongoing national campaign.”
Bannon is seeking a ruling on this request by June 18, just two weeks before his prison sentence is set to begin, emphasizing that his team is ready to take the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.
In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, the staunch Trump ally said serving time in prison would be just yet another way he has served his country.
“In my 20s I served my country on a Navy destroyer, and in my 70s I’ll serve my country in a federal prison,” he said. “It doesn’t make any difference to me. It won’t change my life in one way.”
“If I have to be a political prisoner, I’ll be a political prisoner,” Bannon added. “I don’t bat one eye. Whatever it takes to win this revolution, we’ve got to do.”
