“I am proud to go to prison today (…) if that’s what it takes to stand up to Joe Biden. » Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon has reported to federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, to begin serving his sentence for obstructing the parliamentary investigation into the Capitol assault, an Agence France-Presse photographer noted on Monday, 1er July. He described himself as “a political prisoner.”
Steve Bannon, a 70-year-old populist ideologue and influential figure in the ultra-conservative movement, must now serve four months behind bars after a judge rejected the suspension of his sentence following one of his appeals.
Gray pants and black shirt, he was greeted near the prison building by a small crowd of supporters carrying “Trump 2024” flags and by one of the fiercest Trumpist elected officials in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who gave him the hug in front of the cameras.
Although he no longer officially works for the Republican candidate, Steve Bannon again assured him of his support on Monday and promised that he would use all his influence to promote his re-election, notably via his podcast “War Room”, which will continue without him.
Refusal to cooperate in Capitol assault investigation
Before arriving at Danbury prison, he spoke on his show to welcome the results of the first round of the early legislative elections in France, marked by the clear victory of the far right, and other good results of this movement in other countries during the European elections: “Our movement is having its moment”he rejoiced.
Steve Bannon was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison for obstructing the investigative powers of Congress due to his refusal to cooperate with the congressional inquiry into the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a sentence upheld on appeal on May 10, 2024.
On the eve of January 6, Steve Bannon predicted that “all hell” would surge. And on the day when hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the headquarters of the US Congress, in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election, Steve Bannon spoke at telephone with the outgoing president. The parliamentarians therefore wanted to question him about his role.
His entry into prison comes on the day that the conservative-majority US Supreme Court again delayed Donald Trump’s federal trial over his alleged attempts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
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Another former adviser to Donald Trump at the White House, Peter Navarro, is already serving a four-month sentence for refusing to respond to a summons from Congress in the investigation into the assault on the Capitol.