A judge ordered longtime Donald Trump loyalist Steve Bannon to begin serving his four-month sentence by the end of the month.
Bannon has been out free pending his appeal after he defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
He was sentenced in 2022.
Bannon was convicted in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols Nichols handed down the sentence after saying the law was clear that contempt of Congress is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of at least one month behind bars. Bannon’s lawyers had argued the judge could’ve sentenced him to probation instead. Prosecutors had asked for Bannon to be sent to jail for six months.
“In my view, Mr. Bannon has not taken responsibility for his actions,” Nichols said before he imposed the sentence. “Others must be deterred from committing similar crimes.”
The House panel had sought Bannon’s testimony over his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Bannon has yet to testify or provide any documents to the committee.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
