Judge to consider if ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon should begin prison sentence

Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump, during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 24, 2024. (Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge will consider the Department of Justice’s request to have former Trump adviser Steve Bannon begin his four-month prison term in connection with his contempt of Congress conviction.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Bannon was sentenced to four months for contempt of Congress in October 2022 after he was found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but Judge Nichols agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the conviction.

After the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Bannon’s conviction last month, federal prosecutors requested that the judge order Bannon to begin his four-month sentence.

Prosecutors have said there is no legal basis for Judge Nichols to continue the stay on Bannon serving his sentence after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ conclusive ruling that rejected the basis for Bannon’s appeal on all grounds.

“Consequently, there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,'” prosecutors wrote in a filing last month.

Bannon is expected to attend the hearing.

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