(AFP) – A US federal appeals court on Friday upheld the contempt of Congress conviction of Steve Bannon, raising the prospect that Donald Trump’s former White House strategist could go to jail soon.
Bannon, 70, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022 but has remained free while appealing his conviction.
A three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bannon’s appeal on Friday but gave him seven days to file an appeal with the full court. Bannon could also make a last-ditch request to the Supreme Court.
Bannon was convicted in July 2022 of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
Another top Trump advisor, Peter Navarro, was earlier convicted of contempt of Congress and began serving a four-month sentence in a Florida prison in March.
Navarro, 74, is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former Republican president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Bannon served in the White House as chief strategist for the first seven months of Trump’s term, leaving reportedly due to conflicts with other top staffers.
In 2020, Bannon was charged with wire fraud and money laundering for taking for personal use millions of dollars contributed by donors toward the construction of a border wall with Mexico.
While others were found guilty in the scheme, Trump issued a blanket pardon to Bannon before leaving office in January 2021, leading to the dismissal of the charges against him.
Trump was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden, but his trial has been put on hold until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s claim that as a former president he is immune from criminal prosecution.
Trump, 77, was impeached for a second time by the House of Representatives after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate.
© 2024 AFP
