Crime & Justice

Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress

Washington, Oct 21 (EFE).- Steve Bannon, a one-time strategist for former President Donald Trump, was sentenced here Friday to four months in prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.

US District Judge Carl Nichols also ordered the 68-year-old Bannon to pay a fine of $6,500.

Justice Department prosecutors had been seeking a six-month prison sentence and a $200,000 fine, while Bannon’s lawyers had asked that their client be allowed to serve the sentence under house arrest.

Nichols had informed the defense team that the criminal statute required him to sentence Bannon to a minimum of one month behind bars.

In July, a jury in Washington found Bannon guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear before the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and provide that panel with some requested documents.

After the sentence was handed down, the former White House chief strategist told reporters outside the courthouse that he will appeal and that the idea that he considers himself above the law is “an absolute and total lie.”

He had said upon entering the courthouse that the American people will pass “judgment on the illegitimate Biden regime” in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, in which Republicans appear poised to make congressional gains.

Nichols said moments before announcing the sentence that he will allow it to be suspended while the appeals process plays out.

Bannon also faces New York state money-laundering and conspiracy charges related to a fundraising effort to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

Prosecutors say the suspect diverted more than $1 million of the money raised, alleging that some of the funds went to cover personal expenses and others to pay a co-conspirator.

Bannon denies the charges.

Trump pardoned Bannon on federal fraud charges related to the alleged scheme in the final hours of his presidency, but that move did not prevent prosecutors from filing separate state charges. EFE

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