Steve Bannon was ordered to report to jail by July 1 by a federal judge in D.C. on Thursday, likely ending a years-long legal saga, and sparking a defiant response from the right-wing provocateur and his lawyer.
The former Trump adviser was convicted in 2022 of contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the House January 6 committee. In October of that year, D.C. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months in prison, on top of a fine, but held off on imposing the jail time while Bannon appealed.
However, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down Bannon’s defense last month, leading the Justice Department to ask Nichols to finally put Bannon in the slammer.
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“The government’s motion is granted,” Nichols ruled on Thursday. “My stay [on] Mr. Bannon’s obligation to self-surrender is revoked... I will order Mr Bannon to self-surrender no later than July 1.”
Minutes before Thursday’s hearing, Bannon approached the court room grinning in a jacket, pants with cargo pockets, and worn leather shoes, and surrounded by a small entourage. His attorney, David Schoen, could be seen blotting his face with a handkerchief as he arrived.
Bannon appeared to remain jovial, smiling and chatting with his legal team after entering the wood-paneled courtroom. Nichols, a Trump appointee, spent nearly an hour hearing arguments from lawyers for both sides, at times appearing amenable to each.
Schoen argued that Bannon’s appeals process had not fully ended and that, if ordered to report to prison immediately, he would likely serve his full sentence before that process concluded. He emphasized the executive privilege component of the case and added that Bannon planned to file a rehearing petition by June 24.
But that wasn’t enough to win over Nichols.
“I do not believe that the original basis for my stay of Mr. Bannon’s sentence exists any longer,” the judge said before announcing that Bannon would have to report to prison by the beginning of next month.
Minutes after Nichols issued his order, Schoen began railing at him. When he appeared alongside Bannon to speak to reporters outside the courthouse soon after, his words still rang with anger.
“It’s a horrible decision that overlooks facts in the record,” he said, adding that he wanted the Supreme Court to look at the case. “The unequivocal evidence in this case, without any dispute, is that Mr. Bannon never got the subpoena. His lawyer got the subpoena, and his lawyer told him, ‘Executive privilege has been evoked.’ President Trump confirmed that and his lawyer told him that when executive privilege has been evoked, you may not, as a matter of law, comply with a subpoena. It’s not your privilege to waive.”
Schoen also excoriated the January 6 committee, suggesting it violated the House rules. He called on Speaker Mike Johnson to convene the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group and declare that the subpoenas the committee issued were not lawful.
Bannon himself addressed reporters only briefly, positioning his legal fight, as Trump has of his own ordeal, as a battle on behalf of MAGA America.
“Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, the entire Justice Department—they’re not going to shut up Trump, they’re not going to shut up Navarro, they’re not going to shut up Bannon, and they’re certainly not going to shut up MAGA,” Bannon said. “If you look right here, you reporters, in the two-and-a-half or years we’ve been here, look at the rise of MAGA. Look at the rise of Donald Trump. If the election was held today, according to Harry Enten over at CNN, President Trump would win in a landslide.”
“All of this—besides the major legal issues that have to be addressed—all of this is about one thing,” he continued. “This is about shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump.”
But Bannon promised that wouldn’t happen.
“There’s nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up,” he said, as an agitator with a “lock them up” sign yelled over Bannon that he was going to jail. “There is not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up.”
Bannon’s entourage quickly shuffled him into a waiting black Suburban as the agitator continued to yell. Schoen remained behind.
Asked by The Daily Beast what was next for the legal team, Schoen replied, “Don’t know yet—we’re gonna go to higher court.”
