WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon asked the Supreme Court to intervene and press pause on his impending prison sentence Friday less than a day after a federal appeals court declined to do so.
Bannon, a right-wing media executive and podcaster who served as CEO of former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the January 6th Committee. That sentence was placed on hold, however, while he appealed a longstanding precedent set in the 1960s D.C. Circuit case Licavoli v. United States barring him from claiming at trial that he’d relied on advice from his attorney.
In May, a Circuit panel unanimously upheld his conviction. Earlier this month, the federal judge who sentenced Bannon lifted his stay and ordered him to report to prison by July 1.
Bannon appealed again to the Circuit, asking for a new stay while he appeals to the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the same panel of Circuit judges denied Bannon’s request in a 2-1 order, writing that he’d provided “no basis to conclude that a higher court is likely to upend” the precedent set in Licavoli.
Judges Cornelia Pillard and Brad Garcia, who were nominated to federal bench by Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, respectively, formed the majority in the unsigned opinion. Judge Justin Walker, who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump, dissented.
On Friday, Bannon’s attorneys filed an emergency application with Chief Justice John Roberts for continued release pending appeal with the Supreme Court.
Bannon may have an uphill battle in convincing the court to grant the relief he seeks. Earlier this year, Roberts denied the same request from former Trump White House trade advisor Peter Navarro. Navarro was also convicted of defying a subpoena from the January 6th Committee in a separate trial and sentenced, similarly, to four months in prison. Navarro began serving his sentence in March and was expected to be released in mid-July. In his application, Bannon contends their cases are distinct and raise different issues.
A response by the chief justice to Bannon’s request was due by 4 p.m. on June 26. If Roberts declines to grant bail, Bannon will have to report as ordered to the Bureau of Prisons on July 1.
Bannon is also set to begin trial in New York on September 23 on charges alleging he defrauded donors to a “We Build the Wall” fundraiser that raised more than $25 million – purportedly to help build a southern border wall that was one of Trump’s signature campaign promises. Prosecutors say that money instead went to Bannon and other associates behind the scheme. Two men, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court in connection with the scheme and were sentenced in April 2023 to 51 and 36 months in prison, respectively. A third man, Timohty Shea, was convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice and was sentenced in July 2023 to 63 months in prison.