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On Friday morning, Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500 for contempt of Congress.
The House held Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a select committee subpoena for documents and testimony. However a U.S. district judge Carl Nichols said he agreed that Bannon should not have to serve a sentence while he appeals his case, which Bannon has indicated he will do.
According to ABC News, Bannon blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee on his way out of the courtroom after being found guilty in July.
“We may have lost a battle here today, but we’re not going to lose this war,” Bannon said. “[The jury] came to their conclusion about what was put on in the in that courtroom. But listen, in the closing argument, the prosecutor missed one very important phrase, right? ‘I stand with Trump and the Constitution, and I will never back off that, ever.’”
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Bannon attorney David Schoen took exception to the suggestion that Bannon did not have a legitimate claim of executive privilege when he rejected the committee’s subpoena. Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.
In response, federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen.
“It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury … that no one is above the law,” Cooney said. “He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress.”
The hearing got underway with Judge Carl Nichols saying he tended to agree with the government on the sentencing guidelines.
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Judge Nichols later stated that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions” and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.
After Judge Nichols’s sentencing, Bannon’s attorney announced the team will be filing a notice of appeal.