The Justice Department (DOJ) on Monday called for sentencing Steve Bannon to six months in prison over his refusal to comply with a House Jan. 6 Select Committee subpoena.
A D.C. District Court jury convicted Bannon of contempt of Congress July 22 after he tried and failed to assert executive privilege when subpoenaed in September 2021. He has “exacerbated” the Jan. 6 riot’s “assault” on the rule of law and continues to illegally withhold documents and refuse to testify, the DOJ’s memorandum charged.
“The Defendant’s bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment,” the memorandum said of Bannon. “This Court should impose a sentence of six months’ imprisonment, reflecting the most severe Guidelines-compliant punishment available, and fine the Defendant $200,000.”
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 13: The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol plays a video of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s former White House political advisor Steve Bannon during a hearing on the January 6th investigation in the Cannon House Office Building on October 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images
Bannon’s sentencing has been scheduled for Friday. The day of his conviction, he said he was disappointed that “the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.” (RELATED: Jan. 6 Committee Votes To Subpoena Donald Trump)
New York state authorities separately indicted Bannon last month for allegedly defrauding donors of the “We Build the Wall” organization, which claimed to be planning the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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