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Quoted By:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/10/appeals-court-upholds-steve-bannons-conviction-for-defying-jan-6-probe-00157301
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the criminal conviction of Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump, for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House select committee, a ruling that could send the populist conservative strategist to prison.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols after a jury convicted him of two counts of contempt of Congress. But Nichols, a Trump appointee, agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the decision, agreeing that the complex mix of laws that govern executive privilege and testimonial immunity for White House aides could be overturned by higher courts.
But a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bannon’s argument, saying the former aide and prominent podcaster had no legal rationale for his blanket refusal to appeal before the Jan. 6 committee — and that long-standing case law.
“Because we have no basis to depart from that binding precedent, and because none of Bannon’s other challenges to his convictions have merit, we affirm [the conviction],” the panel ruled in a 20-page opinion.
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the criminal conviction of Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump, for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House select committee, a ruling that could send the populist conservative strategist to prison.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols after a jury convicted him of two counts of contempt of Congress. But Nichols, a Trump appointee, agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the decision, agreeing that the complex mix of laws that govern executive privilege and testimonial immunity for White House aides could be overturned by higher courts.
But a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bannon’s argument, saying the former aide and prominent podcaster had no legal rationale for his blanket refusal to appeal before the Jan. 6 committee — and that long-standing case law.
“Because we have no basis to depart from that binding precedent, and because none of Bannon’s other challenges to his convictions have merit, we affirm [the conviction],” the panel ruled in a 20-page opinion.
