Steve Bannon asks federal judge for early release from prison

Washington
CNN
—

Steve Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and former adviser to Donald Trump, asked a federal judge on Thursday for his early release from prison as he continues to challenge his conviction for contempt of Congress.

Bannon went to prison earlier this summer to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena from the now-disbanded House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. His release is currently scheduled for October 29.

His prison sentence was suspended while he appealed the conviction in federal court in Washington, DC. But after a three-judge panel of the Washington, DC Court of Appeals ruled against him in May, he was ordered to serve the sentence.

Now Bannon is asking the federal judge who oversaw his trial to release him early, citing his pending request that the full Washington Court of Appeals consider his appeal of the ruling. His lawyers argue that if the full appeals court agrees to look at the case, or refuses to do so despite the dissenting opinion of at least one judge, it “… necessarily creates an occurred and changed circumstance since this court last made a bail decision.”

“Mr. Bannon's case presents compelling circumstances as a result of the subsequent developments discussed above – namely, the realistic prospect that the D.C. Circuit will either grant the merits of this case en banc or issue dissents in dismissal, each of which would demonstrate that this case raises substantive issues and that Mr. Bannon does not have to serve his entire sentence before the D.C. Circuit en banc or the Supreme Court can hear his case,” Bannon's lawyers wrote.

They said that if Judge Carl Nichols does not agree to early release, he should instead “reduce his sentence … and give him probation.”

Previous efforts by Bannon to remain free have been rejected, including by Nichols and the Supreme Court.

Bannon is one of two former members of Trump's inner circle who have been prosecuted for their failure to participate in the House investigation on Jan. 6. The second, former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro, has already served a four-month prison sentence for his conviction.

When the now-dissolved House panel requested documents and testimony from Bannon in 2021, it cited alleged communications between Bannon and Trump in the days before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as comments Bannon made on his podcast the day before the riots in which he said “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”