Steve Bannon faces prison sentence for contempt of Jan. 6 investigation after court rejects his appeal

Bannon's lawyers did not immediately comment on whether he intends to appeal to the full appeals court in Washington, DC, or the Supreme Court.

The former chief strategist of the White House under Trump now hosts a podcast that is extremely popular among Trump's supporters.

He was found guilty in a federal trial in 2022 in which a jury rejected his claim that he did not cooperate with the investigation because he believed Trump had invoked executive privilege.

In the days and weeks leading up to January 6, Bannon played a key role in inciting MAGA extremists to attend Trump's rally. At the rally, he urged his supporters to “fight with all their might” to keep him in power despite his election loss to Biden in 2020.

He attended meetings with other pro-Trump politicians in a “war room” at the Willard Hotel, where, according to congressional investigators, plans were made to storm the Capitol, an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's election.

Many insiders close to Trump cooperated with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack. However, a few of them, including Bannon, refused to submit the committee's requests for documents and testimony about their roles in planning and carrying out the attack.

The House committee referred Bannon, along with White House economic adviser Peter Navarro and his chief of staff Mark Meadows, for prosecution.

Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress and is serving a four-month sentence in a federal prison in Miami after his appeal was denied.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against Meadows, possibly because he handed over some text messages and spoke to the committee before ceasing to cooperate.