Tuesday, July 2, 2024 -Influential Donald Trump ally, Steve Bannon, reported to prison on Monday, July 1 to serve a four-month sentence after he was convicted for defying a congressional subpoena from the committee that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.
Bannon arrived at a low-security
federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, and spoke to reporters amid a cheering
group of supporters.
He called himself a "political
prisoner" and said his right-wing populist followers would spread his
message while he served his sentence.
"I'm proud of going to prison
today," Bannon said. "I have not only no regrets, I'm proud of what I
did."
After addressing the cameras, Bannon
entered a dark-coloured SUV that drove into the prison complex.
The sentence could keep Bannon imprisoned almost to Election Day.
Inmates in federal prison do not have access to the internet or social media,
making it difficult for Bannon to communicate with fans of his "War
Room" podcast.
His decision on Monday comes after he
lost a last-ditch effort to stay out of prison when the Supreme Court rejected
his request to delay his sentence while he exhausts the appeals process for his
conviction.
He was sentenced to four months after
being convicted in 2022 of two misdemeanour counts of contempt of Congress. He
was charged after he refused to turn over documents or testify to a
Democratic-led House of Representatives committee investigating the Capitol
riot by Trump supporters who had sought to prevent congressional certification
of Biden's 2020 election win.
Bannon was a key adviser to Trump's
2016 presidential campaign and then served as his chief White House strategist
in 2017. Former President Trump is the Republican candidate challenging
Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election and Bannon's
sentence might last till the start of the election.
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