Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday after being convicted of defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He arrived at the federal courthouse in Washington on Friday morning for the sentencing hearing. Bannon was convicted in July of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents.
Prosecutors have asked the judge in his case to impose a hefty sentence of six months in jail, while Bannon’s lawyers have argued their client deserves a sentence of probation. The statutes for contempt of Congress each carry a minimum sentence of 30 days behind bars, but Bannon’s lawyers argue the judge could just sentence him to probation and not send him to jail.Prosecutors have pushed for the maximum fine, saying Bannon refused to answer routine questions about his income and insisted he could pay whatever the judge imposed.
