Photo: Getty Images
The Department of Justice is seeking a six-month prison sentence and $200,000 fine for Steve Bannon, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, in relation to his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, according to a new court filing obtained by ABC News on Monday (October 17).
"From the moment that the Defendant, Stephen K. Bannon, accepted service of a subpoena from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, he has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt," prosecutors said in the filing. "The Committee sought documents and testimony from the Defendant relevant to a matter of national importance: the circumstances that led to a violent attack on the Capitol and disruption of the peaceful transfer of power. In response, the Defendant flouted the Committee's authority and ignored the subpoena's demands."
"For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months' imprisonment—the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines' range—and fined $200,000—based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office's routine pre-sentencing financial investigation," the statement added.
In July, Bannon was found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House select committee in relation to its investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol, having been subpoenaed for records and testimony by the Jan. 6 panel in September 2021.
Bannon blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee for not appearing as witnesses at his trial after the conviction ruling was announced.
"I only have one disappointment, and that is the gutless members of that show-trial committee, that [Jan. 6] committee, didn't have the guts to come down here and testify," Bannon said via ABC News.
"We may have lost a battle here today, but we're not going to lose this war," he added. "[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.'"
Bannon's attorney, David Schoen, has acknowledged the defense team's intention to appeal the case, publicly stating, "This is just Round One," via ABC News.