Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared in a federal court in Washington, DC, on Friday and was sentenced for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Here's what you need to know about today's sentencing — and what happens next:

Guilty on two counts: A federal jury found Bannon guilty in July of contempt for refusing to appear for the panel's deposition and produce documents. The conviction was a victory for the House committee as it aimed to seek cooperation of reluctant witnesses in its historic investigation.

The sentence: Judge Carl Nichols – a Trump appointee – sentenced Bannon to four months on each count — running concurrently — along with a fine of $6,500. The sentence is less than what federal prosecutors sought. The Justice Department wanted Bannon to be sentenced to six months and be fined $200,000.

He won't have to serve his sentence yet: After Bannon was sentenced, the federal judge said the ex-Trump aide wouldn't have to serve his sentence until the appeal of his conviction plays out, which is what Bannon had requested. He did decline Bannon’s request that he receive only probation for the offense.

What both sides said in court: Federal prosecutors argued that Bannon should be dealt a $200,000 fine — above the $1,000-100,000 guideline and the statutory maximum for the two counts of contempt he is facing. They pointed to Bannon's refusal to provide the probation office with details about his finances as the reason for the particularly harsh fine. Department of Justice attorney JP Cooney argued that it "amplifies" his contempt for the law. Prosecutors also said that citizens have put themselves in harm's way all the time to comply with subpoenas, but Bannon “suffered no such threats” and “thumbed his nose at Congress.” Meanwhile, Bannon's attorney David Schoen pushed back on the idea that a lack of remorse from Bannon should warrant a harsher punishment. He claimed Bannon was upholding American values and the institutions of government, including the White House. Schoen also argued that Bannon was not acting above the law, but was acting consistently with the law, because of his concerns about executive privilege.

What happens next: Bannon has 14 days to file his appeal, the judge said. If he doesn't file that appeal, then Bannon will have to make arrangements to surrender voluntarily no later than Nov. 15. Bannon's attorneys have already made clear they planned to appeal his conviction to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

How Bannon reacted: Bannon decided not to speak in court, but the former Trump adviser briefly addressed reporters outside after the hearing, saying voters would cast their own verdict on Democrats and the Justice Department in the midterm elections in November. "Today was my judgment day by the judge," Bannon said. "On Nov. 8, there's going to (be) judgment on the illegitimate Biden regime ... and quite frankly, Nancy Pelosi and the entire (House Jan. 6) committee."

Trump subpoena: Shortly after Bannon's sentencing unfolded today, former President Donald Trump also faced a showdown with the panel. The Jan. 6 committee announced on Friday that the panel had officially subpoenaed Trump to try to compel him to sit for a deposition under oath and to provide documents.

As Steve Bannon faces legal battles with the Jan. 6 committee over defying a subpoena, former President Donald Trump is also facing a showdown with the panel.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol announced on Friday that the panel has officially sent a subpoena to Trump.

The committee issued the subpoena to try to compel Trump to sit for a deposition under oath and to provide documents. The panel is ordering Trump turn over documents by Nov. 4 and either appear in person or virtually for “one or more days of deposition testimony beginning on or about November 14.”

While it is not clear if Trump will comply with the subpoena, the action serves as a way for the committee to set down a marker and make clear they want information directly from Trump as the panel investigates the attack. Trump could also fight the subpoena in court, possibly setting up a hugely significant battle that could go to the highest level of the nation’s Judicial branch, but it’s also possible such a legal challenge would outlast the committee’s mandate.

Ahead of the subpoena’s release, the committee’s vice chairwoman, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said at a Harvard event earlier this week she assumes Trump will fulfill his legal obligation and honor the committee’s subpoena, “but if that doesn’t happen, then we’ll take the steps we need to take after that, but I don’t want to go too far down that path at this point.”

Unlike with previous subpoena announcements, the committee released on Friday the entire subpoena it sent to Trump along with the documents it is requesting.

“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee’s chairman, write in the subpoena letter.

The panel summarizes what it presented in its hearings to demonstrate why it believes Trump “personally orchestrated and oversaw” the efforts to overturn the election.

Cameras were not allowed in the Washington, DC, federal courtroom where US Judge Carl Nichols announced ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon's sentence on Friday. 

CNN sent sketch artist Bill Hennessy to capture the scene inside the courtroom as the sentencing proceedings unfolded.

Bannon can be seen sitting alongside his attorney David Schoen as the federal judge announces the sentence after Bannon's team and federal prosecutors spoke in court.

In the sketches below, Department of Justice attorney JP Cooney gestures to Bannon as he requests the max sentence. Schoen points toward the federal prosecutors as he argues for a lower sentence.

Federal prosecutors wanted Steve Bannon to be sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of Congress, according to a recommendation filed Monday. In addition to serving time, the government was seeking $200,000 in fines.  

However, Judge Carl Nichols – a Trump appointee — sentenced Bannon Friday to four months in prison and dealt a $6,500 fine. The federal judge said Bannon will not have to serve the sentence until the appeal of his conviction plays out, which Bannon had requested.

In their court filing earlier this week, federal prosecutors outlined their reasonings for a harsher sentence:

“For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment — the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines’ range—and fined $200,000 — based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation,” federal prosecutors wrote in their court filing.

They said he did not fully comply with the probation office in their pre-sentencing investigation, writing that Bannon “freely answered questions about his family, professional life, personal background, and health. But the Defendant refused to disclose his financial records, instead insisting that he is willing and able to pay any fine imposed, including the maximum fine on each count of conviction.”

Prosecutors added: “The rioters who overran the Capitol on January 6 did not just attack a building — they assaulted the rule of law upon which this country was built and through which it endures. By flouting the Select Committee’s subpoena and its authority, the Defendant exacerbated that assault.” 

What happened in court Friday: Federal prosecutors reiterated these points, arguing that Bannon should be dealt a $200,000 fine — that is above the $1,000-100,000 guideline and the statutory maximum for the two counts of contempt he is facing.

Federal prosecutors pointed to Bannon's refusal to provide the probation office with details about his finances as the reason for why he should be dealt the particularly harsh fine.

The judge however sounds skeptical, suggesting that Bannon didn't really concede that the $200,000 fine was appropriate.

Federal prosecutors continued to press, telling the judge that citizens put themselves in harm's way all the time to comply with subpoenas, but Bannon “suffered no such threats” and “thumbed his nose at Congress.”

Bannon was found guilty by a jury in July of two counts of contempt of Congress.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand contributed reporting to this post.

US federal judge Carl Nichols laid out next steps after deciding that ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon will not have to serve the four-month prison sentence until his appeal plays out.

Here's how things will unfold:

• Bannon has 14 days to file his appeal.
• If he doesn't file that appeal, then Bannon will have to make arrangements to surrender voluntarily no later than Nov. 15, the judge said.

Bannon's attorneys have already made clear they planned to appeal his conviction to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's trial concluded today as he was sentenced to four months in prison and dealt a $6,500 fine.

Bannon was stoic throughout the proceedings, in contrast with when the jury announced his guilty verdict and he was smiling and animated. Yet after the judge announced he would not have to serve the jail time while he appeals, Bannon cracked a smirk.

He thanked his attorney David Schoen several times — and just before exiting the courtroom after the proceeding ended, he walked up to the lectern facing the judge, put his hands down as if he were going to speak, then walked away.

And in one of his most unusual choices in a federal sentencing, where defendants often take great pains to show respect for the court, Bannon did not wear a suit. Instead, he had on a barn coat and several navy blue shirts.

There were also some dramatic moments from Bannon and his legal team.

Schoen argued much more forcefully — yelling at some points — as he railed against the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, the Democratic-led Congress, and the Justice Department, several times cracking open his paperback copy of the Federalist Papers to read quotes from James Madison.

"It's a case in which Mr. Bannon should make no apology. No American should make any apology," Schoen said in a nearly 30-minute argument in which the judge didn't interrupt him at all.

Schoen pointed out that Bannon had great respect for the executive branch, thus his willingness to try to keep information Trump might not want others to learn from the committee.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon briefly addressed reporters after receiving his four-month sentence this morning, saying voters would cast their own verdict on Democrats and the Justice Department in the midterm elections in November.

"I respect the judge, the sentence he came down with today. It's his decision. I fully respect — I've been totally respectful this entire process on��the legal side," Bannon said.

"Today was my judgment day by the judge. And he stated for the appeal, and we'll have a vigorous appeals process. I've got a great legal team and there will be multiple areas of appeal," Bannon continued.

"On Nov. 8, on Nov. 8, there's going (be) judgment on the illegitimate Biden regime ... and quite frankly, Nancy Pelosi and the entire (House Jan. 6) committee," he added.

Bannon said voters are "weighing and measuring" the Justice Department and committee members' actions, "and they will vote on Nov. 8."

As Bannon talked to cameras outside, people on megaphones began shouting "traitor" and "lock him up," joined by a chorus of other protesters who carried signs to the same effect.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand contributed reporting to this post.

After US federal judge Carl Nichols sentenced former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to four months in prison along with a $6,500 fine, Bannon's attorney announced the team will be filing a notice of appeal.

"We certainly fully respect the judge's decision. But we'll be filing a notice of appeal as the judge indicated," Bannon's attorney David Schoen told reporters after the sentencing on Friday.

"I've said it before and I would confirm it, I believe that the appeal in this case is bulletproof," Schoen added. "The Constitutional issues involved in this case are very important, but Mr. Bannon never got to tell the reason for his actions with respect to the subpoena, never got to tell his story because the government insisted from day one on prohibiting any mention and any evidence or any discussion to go before the jury as to why Mr. Bannon reacted as he did to the subpoena on the advice of counsel."

"His silence was at my direction," Schoen added on why Bannon did not speak in court.

Schoen also expressed gratitude for Judge Nichols.

"As usual the judge listened carefully and entered a decision that he thought was appropriate," he added. "Very grateful to the judge for thinking through the issues candidly and it is an extraordinary move to permit a stay pending appeal. It was an appropriate move."

Bannon would not have to serve the four month sentence until the appeal of his conviction plays out, the judge had said earlier on Friday.

Before announcing the sentence, US District Judge Carl Nichols laid out the factors cutting in favor and against substantial sentence for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Nichols called the events of Jan. 6 "serious," and backed the committee's interest in investigating it.

He said there were "problems" with Bannon's position that the Trump assertions of privilege precluded him testifying or turning over any document. Nichols said that it was possible that some of the documents Bannon had or topics he would have been asked about could have been covered by privileged, but as a private citizen who had been out of government for years, Bannon was less likely to have privileged documents than others.

The judge also pointed to the failure of Bannon to produce any documents to the committee, or assemble a privilege log. Those factors cut towards a harsher sentence, the judge said.

In Bannon's favor, the judge said, was that the subpoena did raise potential legal issues, because it concerned someone who spoke directly to the President. Nichols noted that Bannon did not ignore the subpoena outright, and was using a lawyer to engage with the committee. He also said the committee's move to quickly hold hold Bannon in contempt, rather than using a civil lawsuit to force compliance, cut in Bannon's favor. The judge also highlighted some aspects of Bannon's resume.

Nichols reiterated that Bannon has not shown remorse, but said that Bannon had been compliant with the conditions of his pretrial release and in all proceedings in his court.

“I conclude that Mr. Bannon appears to be of perhaps some very small risk of recidivism,” the judge said, at least when it comes to subpoenas.

Also weighing on the sentence, the judge said, was that others must be deterred of similar crimes.