Former Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon, host of the War Room show, must report to jail by July 1 after losing his appeal in Washington, D.C., a judge ruled Thursday. He was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022 for defying subpoenas from the Democrat-controlled January 6 Committee. However, the sentence was suspended pending legal appeals.
United States District Court Carl Nichols rejected a request by Bannon to stay his sentence while he attempts to push his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his ruling, Judge Nichols said that there is “no legal basis” for Bannon’s sentence to be delayed any further. The judge agreed with the contention made by federal prosecutors that “…there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial.”
“We’re gonna win at the Supreme Court… there’s is not a jail built, not a prison built that can shut me up,” Bannon said in response to the ruling. Earlier this year, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the former Trump advisor’s challenge to his conviction. However, he could still receive a hearing from the full court and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling by Judge Nichols is surprising, as he has been instrumental in the efforts of the January 6 Capitol riot defendants to oppose the Biden government’s use of Sarbanes-Oxley to enhance the charges against them. In April, the federal judge ruled in favor of early release for several of the January 6 defendants pending a ruling from the U.S Supreme Court on the matter—which is expected to be handed down this month.
