(PresidentialHill.com)- After podcaster Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress, former President Trump took to Truth Social where he claimed Bannon was “fighting for his Country!”
Bannon was found in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with the subpoena issued by the partisan January 6 Select Committee. In his refusal to comply, the podcaster cited executive privilege. The full Congress voted to refer the charge to the Justice Department.
And in November of last year, Bannon was indicted by the Justice Department last November. He was found guilty in July.
On October 21, Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine.
During sentencing, District Judge Carl Nichols said Bannon followed “misguided” legal advice and deferred his sentence pending an appeal.
The following Sunday, Trump shared a blog post from attorney Gregg Jarrett in which Jarrett said Bannon’s conviction should be quashed, arguing if Bannon thought he acted lawfully and relied on legal counsel in good faith, then he didn’t violate the law and should not have been held in contempt or convicted.
Trump commented on the linked article saying Bannon, “like so many others,” is “fighting for his Country!”
Judge Nichols said during sentencing that while Bannon was following the advice of his lawyer, he has not “produced a single document to the committee” over a year after he was subpoenaed nor has Bannon “provided any testimony on any topic.”
Nichols also pointed out that when Bannon was subpoenaed, he had not been working at the White House “for several years” but was a “private citizen,” putting to rest Bannon’s argument that he was protected by executive privilege.
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors had pushed for Bannon to receive a minimum of six months in prison and a fine of $200,000, citing what they described as his “bad faith strategy of defiance and contempt.”
