Bannon Asks for Postponement of Prison Sentence Start

Former presidential adviser Steve Bannon has submitted an urgent request to delay reporting to prison so he can focus on pursuing his remaining appeals.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered Bannon to report to prison on July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 select committee.

In a 36-page motion filed by Bannon’s lawyers on Tuesday, they urged the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause their client’s sentence by June 18, The Hill reported. They indicated that if necessary, they will take their emergency request to the Supreme Court. 

“This is a landmark case,” reads the motion, according to The Hill. “The prosecution pursued a novel and aggressive theory of liability, and the case garnered international attention. If the panel decision stands, there will be far-reaching consequences, including separation-of-powers concerns.

“Mr. Bannon intends to vigorously pursue his remaining appeals in this case and has retained experienced Supreme Court counsel. In the meantime, he asks this court to allow him to remain on release,” his attorneys wrote in the motion.

Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, had previously appealed the ruling in his case, but it was denied.

He was sentenced to four months in prison after a federal jury in 2022 found him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition before the Jan. 6 panel and declining to turn over documents.

Nichols had allowed Bannon to remain free for the past two years as he appealed.

After a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit denied Bannon’s initial appeal last month, Nichols granted prosecutors’ request for the former adviser’s sentence to begin.

Following Nichols’ order, Bannon told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday that “there is not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up.”

“I’ve got great lawyers, we’ll go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” Bannon said during a news conference.

In late April, the Supreme Court denied former Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s request to avoid further prison time over his contempt of Congress conviction. Navarro, 74, is currently in a Miami prison.

Reuters contributed to this story.