The former Trump adviser was convicted in July of ignoring a Jan. 6 subpoena.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was sentenced Friday following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he defied a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel for records and testimony in September of last year. He refused to comply and was found guilty of contempt in July.
Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500.
However Judge Nichols said he agreed that Bannon should not have to serve a sentence while he appeals his case, which Bannon has indicated he will do.
Bannon attorney David Schoen took exception to the suggestion that Bannon did not have a legitimate claim of executive privilege when he rejected the committee's subpoena.
In particular, Schoen went after Trump lawyer Justin Clark, who told DOJ investigators in July that at no point did former President Donald Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon's testimony.
"You wouldn't believe a thing he says," Schoen said of Clark, who also contradicted other claims made by Bannon's defense team in their case.
Federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen.
"It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury ... that no one is above the law," Cooney said. "He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress."
"He had an interest in making a public spectacle of the committee's hearings," Cooney told the judge, saying that Bannon "has tried to make it about nothing but politics and retribution."
The hearing got underway with Judge Carl Nichols saying he tended to agree with the government on the sentencing guidelines.
The judge said that Bannon "has expressed no remorse for his actions" and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.
Bannon attorney David Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.
Nichols, however, rejected that argument, saying the statute is clear on the point that there is a mandatory minimum of 30 days and a mandatory maximum of 12 months.
