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.

Bannon arrived at the courthouse before 9 a.m. He thanked the TV news cameras for being there and called the Biden administration illegitimate.

He also thanked a woman who was chanting "traitor."

Bannon, whose sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. EST, blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee on his way out of the courtroom after being found guilty in July.

"We may have lost a battle here today, but we're not going to lose this war," he said. "[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, said that Bannon's defense team would appeal the case, saying, "This is just Round 1."

The Department of Justice is seeking six months in prison and a fine of $200,000 when Steve Bannon is sentenced this morning, according to a court filing Monday.

The adviser to former President Donald Trump was convicted in July on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he refused to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

"From the time he was initially subpoenaed, the Defendant has shown that his true reasons for total noncompliance have nothing to do with his purported respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or executive privilege, and everything to do with his personal disdain for the members of Congress sitting on the Committee and their effort to investigate the attack on our country's peaceful transfer of power," prosecutors said in Monday's filing. "[Bannon's] abject refusal to heed the Committee's subpoena, under the circumstances with which this country is confronted, could not be more serious."

Bannon faces a maximum sentence of one year per count, for a total of two years behind bars.

In his own sentencing memorandum Bannon asked that he be sentenced to a period of probation and is seeking a stay of any sentence pending appeal of his conviction.