Steve Bannon, a well-known ally of former President Trump, may be forced to go to jail. Like much else in America at the time, people are concerned about its effect on the presidential elections.
The court case and conviction happened in 2022, after the January 6th capitol riot. Bannon was convicted of not providing the House Select Committee that was investigating the attack with the necessary evidence. He was sentenced to four months in prison. While Bannon had argued that, at the time, he had been following the legal advice given to him by his lawyer, it was not a good enough defense to prevent his conviction. However, when Bannon appealed the case, the sentence was paused. The judge, Carl Nichols, lifted the hold on the sentence after the defendant’s appeals were unanimously rejected by the appeals court. Bannon has also argued that this conviction is merely a political tool for the upcoming election.
In fact, Bannon has filed a motion to try and keep himself out of prison as he tries to appeal the Supreme Court. In the motion, it is stated that “the government seeks to imprison Mr. Bannon for the four-month period leading up to the November election, when millions of Americans look to him for information on important campaign issues.” On the other hand, John Crabb, the prosecutor of the case has said that the defendant has not fulfilled all the requirements to stay out of prison while his case is appealed. A similar case was then called up and compared with the current one, though several differences questioned the usefulness of such a tactic.
The case was of Peter Navarro, the first person to go to jail due to the January 6th attack. He was convicted of refusing to comply with a subpoena to hand over documents of the riot; as a result, he was sentenced to four months in prison. Furthermore, he had also tried to appeal the decision and take it to the Supreme Court, but it was refused as after the federal appeals court said no, the Supreme Court Chief Justice said he had “no basis to disagree” with their decision. In Steve Bannon’s case, his lawyer argued that there were multiple differences between the two cases and one case did not prove that the other would be rejected.
All in all, the upcoming election remains a focal point of politics in the country, and many are wondering how events such as these may sway people to one politician instead of another.