Trump ally Steve Bannon must surrender to prison by July 1 to start contempt sentence, judge says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington granted the Justice Department’s request to make Bannon begin his prison term after a federal appeals court panel last month upheld his contempt of Congress conviction.

Bannon is expected to seek a stay of the judge’s order, which could delay his surrender date.

“I’ve got great lawyers, and we’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. Bannon cast the case as politically motivated, saying “this is about shutting down the MAGA movement.”

“There’s not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up,” Bannon said.

Bannon was convicted nearly two years ago of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

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