Judges Reject Bannon's Bid to Stay Out of Jail

UPDATE Jun 21, 2024 6:02 AM CDT

Steve Bannon remains on track to report to prison by July 1 after a federal appeals panel rejected his bid to remain free on appeal, reports Politico. The DC panel ruled 2-1 against Bannon, who plans to make one last attempt with the Supreme Court. The former aide to Donald Trump has been sentenced to four months for defying a congressional subpoena.

Jun 18, 2024 7:26 AM CDT

Steve Bannon won't get to serve his prison sentence in a cushy minimum-security "Club Fed" as he requested. Instead, the former adviser to President Trump will serve out a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress at the low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, that inspired the hit book and Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, Raw Story reports. Because Bannon has additional charges pending in New York for his alleged "We Build The Wall" fraud scheme, he is a "slightly higher security inmate than somebody who could be in a camp," CNN's Katelyn Polantz reported Monday. She said the facility houses male and female inmates, including violent offenders, in open pods and "is certainly not where Steve Bannon wanted to go."

Bannon is to report to prison by July 1. It's possible he might later be moved to "a facility in New York City, such as the infamous Rikers Island jail" while facing state charges in a September trial, CNN reports. Bannon is accused of enriching himself with donations to the We Build the Wall campaign, which promised all donations would fund a wall along the US-Mexico border. But until he can answer those charges, his lawyers are fighting to keep him out of any prison. In a recent filing with the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers argued Bannon shouldn't be imprisoned in the lead-up to the November election because "millions of Americans look to him for information on important campaign issues." Bannon has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court if need be. (More Steve Bannon stories.)