Federal Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Trump Supporter Steve Bannon – One America News Network
OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:03 PM – Friday, May 10, 2024
Former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon attempted to overturn his conviction for contempt of Congress on Friday, but a federal appeals court rejected his motion.
Advertisement
The court upheld Bannon’s punishment for not responding to a subpoena from the January 6th committee, which has now been dissolved.
“It is undisputed that the first time Bannon raised these arguments was in district court, long after his deadline for responding to the subpoena had passed,” Judge Brad Garcia wrote to a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.
“A witness cannot defend against a contempt of Congress charge based on an affirmative defense that they were able, but failed, to raise at the time they were ordered to produce documents or appear.”
In 2022, Bannon was found guilty of neglecting to show up for a committee-mandated deposition and for withholding documents that the committee had subpoenaed. He was sentenced to four months in prison as well as a $6,500 fine.
The ruling is the most recent in a run of defeats for Bannon and former Trump advisor Peter Navarro, who both disregarded a subpoena issued by the panel.
Before Navarro was told to report to a Florida prison to serve his four-month term, the Supreme Court declined to step in and grant his request for emergency relief.
“The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in his case largely affirmed a lower court’s determination that Navarro’s appeal does not raise a “substantial question of law” and therefore doesn’t warrant his release,” The Hill reported.
The federal appeals court determined that in order for Navarro’s claims of executive privilege to raise meaningful issues, former President Trump would have needed to make an invocation of the privilege, which the court determined “did not happen here.”
Bannon still has the option to petition the Supreme Court to consider his case or ask the entire appellate court bench to examine it, potentially reducing the length of his prison sentence.
In his appeal of his conviction, Bannon had requested that the court re-evaluate the legal standard for determining willfulness, pointing out that he had consulted with legal counsel despite his inability to produce any paperwork or show up for the deposition.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
