by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 21, 2022
Top Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was sentenced to 120 days in jail and a $6,500 fine on Friday for contempt of Congress.
U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols will allow Bannon to be released pending appeal of his conviction.
Bannon predicted his political opponents will be voted out on Election Day: “Remember this illegitimate regime, their judgment day is on the eighth of November when the Biden administration ends.”
Bannon contends that he should have been allowed at trial to argue he defied a subpoena from the House January 6 Select Committee on the advice of his lawyers.
The appeal will ask the D.C. circuit court to quash the conviction. Bannon faced a potential six month prison sentence and $200,000 in fines, which was recommended by the Biden Department of Justice.
Bannon’s appeal is expected to make the case that the legal precedent that prevented Nichols from allowing his lawyers to argue the definition of “willful” defiance used at trial, as well as the fact that he had relied on the advice of counsel, was inapplicable.
The argument appears to capitalize on repeated acknowledgements by Nichols in pre-trial rulings that he considered the legal precedent to be outdated and might have otherwise permitted Bannon’s lawyers to say the former aide – because of bad legal advice – did not realize he acted unlawfully.
“I think that the D.C. Circuit may very well have gotten this wrong,” Nichols said. “The problem is, I’m not writing on a clean slate here.”
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