WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A federal appeals court panel on Thursday rejected longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon's bid to stay out of prison while he fights his conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated .
Bannon is supposed to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, earlier this month granted prosecutors' request to send Bannon to prison after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld his conviction.
Bannon's lawyers had asked the appeals court to allow him to remain free while he continues to fight the conviction all the way up to the Supreme Court, if necessary. But in a 2-1 vote, the D.C. Circuit panel said Bannon's case 鈥渄oes not warrant a departure from the general rule鈥� that defendants begin serving their sentence after conviction.
Judge Justin Walker dissented, writing that Bannon should not have to go to prison before the Supreme Court decides whether to take up his case.
Bannon is expected to ask the Supreme Court to stave off his prison sentence. His attorneys didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in efforts by Trump, a Republican, to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Bannon鈥檚 lawyer at trial argued that the former Trump adviser didn鈥檛 ignore the subpoena but was still engaged in good-faith negotiations with the congressional committee when he was charged. The defense has said Bannon had been relying on the advice on his attorney, who believed that Bannon couldn鈥檛 testify or produce documents because Trump had invoked executive privilege.
Lawyers for Bannon say the case raises serious legal questions that will likely need to be resolved by the Supreme Court but he will have already finished his prison sentence by the time the case gets there.
In court papers, Bannon鈥檚 lawyers also argued that there is a 鈥渟trong public interest鈥� in allowing him to remain free in the run-up to the 2024 election because Bannon is a top adviser to Trump鈥檚 campaign.
Bannon鈥檚 lawyers said the Justice Department, in trying to imprison him now, is 鈥済iving an appearance that the government is trying to prevent Mr. Bannon from fully assisting with the campaign and speaking out on important issues, and also ensuring the government exacts its pound of flesh before the possible end of the Biden Administration.鈥�
Prosecutors said in court papers that Bannon鈥檚 鈥渞ole in political discourse鈥� is irrelevant.
鈥淏annon also cannot reconcile his claim for special treatment with the bedrock principle of equal justice under the law,鈥� prosecutors wrote. 鈥淓ven-handed application of the bail statute requires Bannon鈥檚 continued detention.鈥�
A second Trump aide, trade adviser , is already serving his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress. Navarro, too, has said he couldn鈥檛 cooperate with because Trump had invoked executive privilege. The judge barred him from making that argument at trial, however, finding that he didn鈥檛 show Trump had actually invoked it.
The House Jan. 6 committee鈥檚 final report asserted that Trump criminally engaged in a 鈥渕ulti-part conspiracy鈥� to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop from attacking the Capitol, concluding an extraordinary 18-month investigation into the former president and .
Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press
