The Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected Steve Bannon’s attempt to escape prison.
Bannon earlier this month asked a federal appeals court to postpone his impending prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
The court denied his request, saying his argument “does not constitute a basis for departing from the general principles.” In a 2-1 decision, the judges decided: Bannon’s argument would not warrant a stay because it does not raise “an urgent question or a question that could otherwise be decided.”
In early June, a federal judge sentenced the one-time adviser to former President Trump to four months in prison, reporting to prison until July 1 and refusing to subpoena Congress for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. I ordered them to start receiving it.
In Thursday’s ruling, the panel said Bannon “knew what the subpoena required but deliberately refused to appear or produce requested documents.”
The panel also refuted Bannon’s claim that he “deliberately” rejected the House committee’s request. The justices cited Supreme Court rulings that “consistently recognized” that the word intentional is “a word with multiple meanings.”
“He provides no basis for concluding that the high court is likely to overturn its existing understanding of ‘knowingly’ in the context of its contempt for the clear obligation to respond to congressional subpoenas,” the justices wrote.
Bannon was convicted in 2022 of failing to appear for House committee testimony on January 6 and refusing to produce documents.
Last month, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Bannon’s appeal of his conviction, and the Justice Department immediately jailed him.
Bannon can now ask the full appeals court to review Thursday’s ruling or take his request to the Supreme Court, a step his lawyers said they would be willing to take if necessary.
He was one of two people charged and convicted on Jan. 6 for failing to comply with the commission’s orders. Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro is currently serving a four-month sentence for contempt.
The Hill has reached out to Bannon’s attorney for comment.
This story was updated at 10:33 p.m.
