Steve Bannon released from prison after serving sentence for contempt of Congress

WASHINGTON — The last time Steve Bannon was a free man, Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

Bannon, a right-wing podcast host and former Donald Trump campaign official, was released from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody on Tuesday, with just one week left until voters choose between his former boss and Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.

Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Randilee Giamusso confirmed Bannon had been released.

Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison For ignoring House committee subpoenas dated January 6 back in 2022, but he managed to delay his sentencing for almost two full years as he filed appeals. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols—himself a Trump appointee— ordered Bannon in June, report to prison by July 1st.

Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress in July 2022 for refusing to comply with subpoenas from a House committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol incited by Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

“The defendant chose loyalty to Donald Trump over upholding the law,” the Justice Department prosecutor said. told the jury at trialadding that Bannon “disdained Congress,” which sought to find out “why January 6th happened and how to make sure it never happens again.”

Bannon hosts a podcast called Bannon’s War Room, which has a large following on the right and often features guests who downplay the Jan. 6 attack. Before he began serving his sentence, he said that he “proud“go to jail,” and he told NBC News: falsethat Democrats have “no chance” of winning the upcoming elections if “they steal it“

Trump himself faces four criminal charges in connection with his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against human rights. He pleaded not guilty. Federal grand jury indictment alleges Trump knowingly exploited campaignunreasonable, objectively unfounded and constantly changing“False claims of voter fraud to try to change the outcome of the election after his defeat.

Bannon, a 70-year-old white man whose inmate number was 05635-509, was serving time at FCI Danbury, a low-security federal correctional facility in Connecticut.

Just days after Bannon was sent to prison, Biden announced his decision quit the raceAnd Harris became candidate from the Democratic Party.

Bannon had not worked in the White House for years when he was subpoenaed by the committee on Jan. 6, but he was still trying to claim executive privilege to avoid it. Eleven hours before his contempt trial, Bannon said he agreed to testify before the committee. The Justice Department called the move “unfair.”last attempt to avoid responsibility” The jury ultimately found him guilty and the sentences were upheld on appeal.

Peter NavarroThe former White House official was also found guilty of contempt of Congress and also served a four-month sentence. He was released midway through the Republican National Convention in August to great acclaim. hero’s salute in RNA.