US supreme court rejects Steve Bannon attempt to avoid prison

The supreme court has rejected Steve Bannon’s attempt to avoid prison time following his contempt of Congress convictions.

In a brief ruling issued on Friday, the supreme court ordered Donald Trump’s former adviser, who has been challenging convictions over his defiance of subpoenas surrounding the House’s January 6 insurrection investigation, to report to prison by Monday.

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“The application for release pending appeal presented to the chief justice and by him referred to the court is denied,” the order said.

In July 2022, Bannon was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress and was later sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022.

Federal prosecutors say Bannon believed that he was “above the law” when he refused a deposition with the January 6 House select committee, in addition to refusing to turn over documents on his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.

By defying the subpoenas, Bannon “chose to show his contempt for Congress’s authority and its processes,” assistant US attorney Amanda Rose Vaughn said in 2022.

Friday’s order from the supreme court comes in response to Bannon asking the country’s highest court earlier this month to delay his prison sentence in an emergency application.

Bannon has accused the convictions against him of being politically motivated, with his lawyer David Schoen saying that the case raises “serious constitutional issues” that need to be investigated by the supreme court.

“Quite frankly, Mr Bannon should make no apology. No American should make any apology for the manner in which Mr Bannon proceeded in this case,” Schoen added.

Lawyers to Trump’s longtime ally have also argued that there is a “strong public interest” in allowing Bannon to remain free ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.