Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday after being convicted of defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.
Bannon was convicted in July of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to take a seat for a deposition and the opposite for refusing to supply paperwork.
Prosecutors have requested the decide in his case to impose a hefty sentence of six months in jail, whereas Bannon’s attorneys have argued their consumer deserves a sentence of probation. The statutes for contempt of Congress every carry a minimal sentence of 30 days behind bars, however Bannon’s attorneys argue the decide might simply sentence him to probation and never ship him to jail.
The House committee had sought Bannon’s testimony over his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Bannon has but to testify or present any paperwork to the committee, prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors argued Bannon, 68, deserved the longer sentence as a result of he had pursued a “bad faith strategy” and his public statements disparaging the committee itself made it clear he needed to undermine their effort to resolve the violent assault and hold something prefer it from occurring once more.
The protection, in the meantime, stated he wasn’t performing in dangerous religion, however making an attempt to keep away from working afoul of govt privilege objections Trump had raised when Bannon was first served with a committee subpoena final yr. The onetime presidential adviser stated he needed to a Trump lawyer within the room, however the committee wouldn’t enable it.
Many different former White House aides have testified with solely their very own counsel. Bannon had been fired from the White House in 2017 and was a non-public citizen when he was consulting with the then-president earlier than the riot.
Bannon additionally identified that he had provided to testify after Trump waived govt privilege. But that was after the contempt expenses had been filed, and prosecutors say he would solely agree to present the deposition if the case was dropped.
Prosecutors have pushed for the utmost tremendous, saying Bannon had refused to reply routine questions on his revenue and insisted he might pay regardless of the decide imposed.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”