Steve Bannon begins serving 4-month sentence in federal prison for defying congressional subpoena

CNN
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Steve Bannon, a former Donald Trump White Home strategist, reported to a federal jail in Danbury, Connecticut, on Monday to start a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

Bannon, the second former Trump aide to be imprisoned for a contempt of Congress conviction after Peter Navarro started serving a four-month sentence earlier this yr, was taken into custody shortly after 12 p.m. ET.

He was pushed into the federal jail in a black van after talking at a podium outdoors the correctional facility, saying he was “proud” to go to jail.

“It’s time for me to give up up in Danbury,” he stated.

Each Bannon and Navarro had been convicted for not complying with subpoenas issued to them by the now-defunct Home Choose Committee that investigated January 6, 2021. The Supreme Courtroom on Friday denied a long-shot effort by Bannon to keep away from reporting to jail whereas he challenges his conviction earlier than the federal appeals courtroom in Washington, DC.

Bannon has stated that he was not thumbing his nostril on the Home committee however slightly counting on recommendation from his attorneys to not reply to the subpoena till lawmakers labored out Trump’s claims of govt privilege within the matter. Courts didn’t permit him to argue that to the jury that determined his case.

The conservative podcaster has remained a staunch Trump ally and is a vocal supporter of his presidential reelection bid.

In an interview aired Monday morning, the previous president reacted to Bannon reporting to jail, saying, “(President Joe) Biden goes to pay a giant worth for it.”

“They wished to silence him, however they’ll by no means silence him, however they wished to silence him. Oh, that is pure weaponization. What they’ve accomplished on this nation is unthinkable, and Biden goes to pay a giant worth for it, I imagine. As a result of I believe that persons are going to say, effectively, wow, you’ve opened up a Pandora’s Field. It’s a horrible factor that they’ve opened up. They’ve unleashed this. That is the third world international locations. No, they wished to silence Steve Bannon, and the one the best way they might do it was by placing him in jail,” Trump stated in an interview with “Richmond’s Morning Information with John Reid.”

The MAGA media firebrand was holding a busy schedule within the days earlier than his jail sentence. He tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Trump to skip the CNN presidential debate final week. He continued to host his far-right podcast the place he has vowed to get revenge on his political enemies and imprison the present management of the Justice Division.

And he welcomed a number of mainstream media reporters to affix him throughout his broadcasts, all whereas peddling his narrative of political martyrdom.

“I’m going to be extra highly effective in jail than I’m now,” Bannon stated final week.

His public persona has been certainly one of indifference — unbothered and unafraid of his time on the federal facility.

“I’m not going to be sitting there going, ‘Oh, woe is me,’” Bannon informed CNN.

Sources near Bannon painted a special image, describing a person vacillating between denial that he can be spared a jail time period and apprehension about what life behind bars would entail.

For legal defendants, there are worse prisons to finish up in than the power the place Bannon will spend the subsequent 4 months. Danbury has a comparatively small jail inhabitants, with fewer than 1,200 female and male inmates.

The low-security facility the place Bannon shall be housed is populated with white-collar criminals, although it may well additionally embrace some violent offenders and intercourse offenders. The commissary gives numerous snacks from peanut butter to plantain chips, in response to a web-based listing.

However Bannon’s universe is about to shrink.

Inmates don’t have entry to the Web, in response to folks acquainted with the jail. These in custody at Danbury can ship emails with out attachments, however they move via a monitored system, on a delay. The Federal Bureau of Prisons code bars inmates from conducting a enterprise whereas incarcerated.

Along with e mail entry, inmates at Danbury obtain tons of of telephone minutes monthly, which they will use in 15-minute increments on a wall-mounted telephone. As soon as the month-to-month minutes are exhausted, there’s no choice to reup them.

It’s a far cry from broadcasting to the Trump devoted for hours every day. Nonetheless, Bannon insisted his “Battle Room” media platform would thrive even in his absence.

“We’re a populist motion. That is all concerning the viewers,” Bannon stated. “Whether or not I by no means come again ever to the ‘Battle Room’ gained’t make a distinction.”

He had lofty expectations that he, too, would thrive within the coming months.

“I’m working 24/7 on this marketing campaign,” stated Bannon, who doesn’t have a proper function in Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign however has remained one of many former president’s most strident supporters, even after he was fired from the Trump White Home.

“I’ll have a a lot larger impression on the marketing campaign after I’m in jail than I’ve now,” he stated.

For now, although, Bannon is poised to undergo an consumption course of on Monday that’s acquainted to inmates at Danbury. He’ll move via a steel detector and endure a strip search. Afterward, he’ll participate in a psychological well being analysis. He’ll then be taken to his housing unit, supplied with a bedroll, assigned to a mattress and left to acclimate to life behind bars.

That life gained’t embrace clinging to letters from his followers, Bannon stated.

“It’s essential to focus 100% of your time on profitable,” he stated of those that could be impressed to ship notes of assist to his cell.

“Don’t ship me a letter, as a result of I’m not going to learn it,” he added.

This story has been up to date with extra developments.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.