Four Months for Bannon

He remains free pending appeal.

“Steve Bannon” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Via CNN: Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison for each count — running concurrently — in the contempt of Congress case stemming from his refusal to comply with a House January 6 committee subpoena. 

The judge also levied a $6,500 fine. 

The Justice Department was seeking a six-month sentence and fine of $200,000. Bannon was seeking probation and asking for the sentencing to be delayed pending his appeal.

I have not legal analysis to offer. From a normative point of view, I am gratified to see him suffering consequences (or, more accurately, potential consequences since an appeal is pending) for his unwillingness, indeed loud defiance, of a congressional investigation.

FILED UNDER: Crime, Law and the Courts, US Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. OzarkHillbilly says:

    No tarring and feathering? sigh…

  2. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    Is it wrong of me to giggle maniacally thinking about this numbskull doing any amount of time in an actual prison, in prison duds, eating prison slops, and having to navigate his way around people who are genuinely dangerous and who don’t GAF who/what he thinks he is?

    Maybe so, but I want him to be in secure fed lockup, not minimum security. Oh county lockup working road litter crew would work for me too

  3. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m afraid we’re both fated to be disappointed, eh? Le sigh…

  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Flat Earth Luddite: Not to be a downer but I rather suspect that people found guilty of contempt of Congress don’t spend much time “around people who are genuinely dangerous and who don’t GAF who/what he thinks he is.”

    I mean, who doesn’t hold Congress in contempt, at the least when those guys hold a majority?

    1
  5. Kathy says:

    He’s not likely to spend even two seconds in prison. He’s copying the Cheeto playbook: run out the clock and hope the political process spews out the corrupt leadership to let him off.

    2
  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Flat Earth Luddite: Yeah, I’d settle for him having to sober up for 4 months but in prison, everything has a price It’s just a matter of whether you can pay it.

  7. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    The Judge went easy on Bannon.
    Let’s see what happens in his upcoming fraud case in NY.

    2
  8. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Flat Earth Luddite:

    and having to navigate his way around people who are genuinely dangerous

    While I’m sure it will be no picnic for him, I somehow doubt he’s going to be sent to a maximum security prison with seriously violent offenders. He’s probably going to end up in a minimum security prison with other non-violent offenders.

  9. Mister Bluster says:

    I have no idea how long the appeal will take and since I can not predict the future I refuse to speculate on the outcome.
    However if he ends up in the slammer I wonder who he will meet when the lights go out?

    Darkness is good. Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.
    Steve Bannon

  10. wr says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: “I mean, who doesn’t hold Congress in contempt, at the least when those guys hold a majority?”

    I am reminded of my favorite Mae West moment, when her character is on trial for something:

    Judge: Young lady, are you trying to express contempt for this court?

    MW: No, your honor, I’m trying to conceal it.

    5
  11. Scott says:

    I don’t know if anyone can answer this question here but…

    If we get a Republican control of the House in January, can they just send a “nevermind” request to the Judge and Bannon then gets off?

  12. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Truly, 4 months of him drinking pruno/slash would certainly improve my world view.

  13. Jon says:

    I wonder if he’ll wear several jumpsuits, one over the other, to keep that fresh “all the collars!” look.

    3
  14. Jay L Gischer says:

    Given what’s likely at stake concerning the reasons he’s stonewalling Congress I think 4 months and 5 grand is a very small price to pay for not talking. I would probably be happy to pay it in his shoes. Of course, you have to keep the grift going and constantly shout about how unfair it all is.

    2
  15. inhumans99 says:

    Bannon’s “sentence,” which as reports point out is lenient and may not even come to pass if his appeal is successful (which it might indeed be) is precisely why I hope that Hunter Biden pulls a Bannon and refuses to show up when subpoenaed by Congress, which we all know is happening in less than 30 days when the second the GOP takes the House and Senate they are going to investigate Hunter Biden because they all believe he is the reason their cult leader Trump is not sitting in the White House now.

  16. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @wr: Heh, thanx for that. My fav MW moment is the same as most other’s: “When I’m good, I’m very good. When I’m bad, I’m even better.”

  17. Moosebreath says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That is a good one, though my favorite is:

    Woman looking at MW’s necklace: Goodness, what diamonds!

    MW: Goodness had nothing to do with it.

    1
  18. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Moosebreath: HA! She was a fount of wisdom.

  19. de stijl says:

    I have no proof of this assertion and zero new reporting, but I believe Bannon is a raging alcoholic. I see it in his eyes and his face. This is a really strong feeling and some life lessons in how alcoholics look and present and cope. It is feeling and not proven fact, I am not a professional, and this is speculation.

    The tell is the eyes and the skin roughness.

    Prison might be helpful to break the cycle. If the DTs don’t fuck you up for life.

    I have dealt with and coped with and seen a lot of full-blown alkies in full bloom in my time. I was almost there for a year or three when I was very stressed out, myself. Bannon is at the the extreme edge of nearly out of control, but barely able to present as functional.

    I have met people who look exactly like Bannon presents and all of them were hard-core long term habitual drunks.

    He’s doing .75 to a full liter a night of hard spirits and a few nips during the day to quell the thirst.

    Those bleary eyes. That skin. The affect. The reactions. You could sand down a rough board with that skin. He is hard-core alky drunky in my head. Barely functional.

    Hey, I could be wrong, but that’s what I see in him. I might be wrong, but I don’t think so. I trust my eyes on this.

    1