Oct. 17 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Monday filed documents urging a federal court to sentence Steve Bannon, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, to six months in prison and a fine of $200,000 after he was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress.
Bannon was convicted of contempt in July after he ignored a subpoena to testify and provide documents for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He had been subpoenaed by the committee in September 2021.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday and the penalty sought by prosecutors is at “the top end” of the range of possible sentencing guidelines.
“From the moment that the defendant, Stephen K. Bannon, accepted service of a subpoena from the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol, he has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum.
“The committee sought documents and testimony from the defendant relevant to a matter of national importance: the circumstances that led to a violent attack on the Capitol and disruption of the peaceful transfer of power. In response, the defendant flouted the committee’s authority and ignored the subpoena’s demands.”
Lawyers for Bannon are expected to soon file their own memorandum on sentencing on Monday.
Bannon has claimed executive privilege and Trump considered waiving that claim to allow him to testify before the committee ahead of his trial.
Prosecutors said Monday that executive privilege did not apply to Bannon and that he had “attempted an about-face” on the eve of his trial, which proved to be a “hollow gesture.”
“When he realized that his eleventh-hour stunt would not prevent his trial, [Bannon’s] cooperative spirit vanished,” prosecutors said.
Bannon has still not produced a single document to the committee or appeared for testimony, prosecutors said Monday.
Bannon, 68, left the White House in August 2017 but was an outspoken supporter of false claims that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election because of voter fraud — and was a private citizen at the time of the insurrection at the Capitol when he said on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose.”
The House select committee featured that clip at its final public hearing on Thursday, though the lawmakers voted unanimously to subpoena Trump himself to appear before them.
