Steve Bannon was released from a federal prison in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning after completing his four-month sentence, according to CNN.
The former Donald Trump White House adviser reported to the prison in Connecticut in July following his 2022 conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee. Bannon’s release comes exactly one week before Election Day.
Bannon is expected to hold a press conference in Manhattan later and resume hosting his War Room podcast on Tuesday.
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The longtime Trump ally, 70, began his incarceration after the Supreme Court refused to allow him to stall his sentence any longer as he appealed his conviction. He is still appealing.
“I’m a political prisoner of [former House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi,” Bannon told supporters as he reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury in July. “I’m a political prisoner of [U.S. Attorney General] Merrick Garland. I’m a political prisoner of Joe Biden and the corrupt Biden establishment.”
He separately told The Daily Beast shortly before his sentence started that he considered himself a political prisoner “because I have a very successful platform that reaches the common man,” and that “they hate that” and “they will do anything to shut that down.” He also claimed that authorities were turning him into “a martyr” and his podcast “will be bigger” as a consequence.
During his imprisonment, however, War Room went from regularly appearing in Apple’s Top Podcasts to falling off the charts by early July, according to CNN. The network cited Podchaser data also showing that the show had dropped from being near the top of Apple’s political podcast charts to being outside the top 25.
Bannon faces another trial scheduled for December over criminal charges brought by New York prosecutors alleging that Bannon defrauded people who donated money to build a wall along the southern border. He’s pleaded not guilty in that case to charges including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
His release on the eve of the election has been welcomed by allies. War Room co-host Natalie Winters hailed his impending return on the show as the liberation of “one of the most important patriots that has ever existed in the history of this country, the MAGA equivalent of George Washington.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted her own tribute following news of Bannon’s release early Tuesday. “Welcome back Steve!!” the MAGA congresswoman wrote. “Let’s win this election and defeat these communists!!”
