Ex-Trump adviser Bannon starts prison sentence
In October 2022, Steve Bannon, the former advisor to ex-US President Donald Trump, was sentenced to a four-month prison term for contempt of Congress. In May 2023, his appeal was denied. Now, the 70-year-old is beginning his prison sentence - this apparently does not seem to worry him.
The former chief strategist of ex-US President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, has reported to prison to serve his four-month sentence. "I am proud to go to prison today", said the 70-year-old before entering the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
Bannon was sentenced to prison in October 2022 for contempt of Congress but remained free during the appeals process. His appeal was then denied in May by a federal court. Bannon was convicted for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Congress formally certified the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election that day. Trump urged his supporters at a rally with the claim that he had been cheated out of the election through massive fraud. As a result of the riots, five people lost their lives. To this day, Trump refuses to acknowledge his defeat by Biden. He intends to move back into the White House after the presidential election in November.
A committee of the US House of Representatives investigated the Capitol riot and called on Trump associates, including Trump and Navarro, to cooperate. However, they both refused. Navarro, too, was sentenced to a four-month prison term for contempt of Congress and has been serving since March.
Bannon was a central figure in Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. After Trump's election victory, he became chief strategist in the White House. Trump fired him in August 2017. However, the two right-wing populists drew closer again later. Bannon also maintains contacts with far-right groups in Europe.
Bannon's prison sentence stems from his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the storming of the Capitol in Washington, an incident instigated by supporters of former US President Donald Trump. Trump, who still maintains that he was cheated out of the 2021 presidential election, has not acknowledged his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
