As Red Painter wrote earlier this week, Steve Bannon looks desperate to weasel out of the four-month prison sentence he brought on himself by thumbing his nose at a Congressional subpoena. Clearly, he’s looking for any delay to take him past the election so that his fave convicted felon, Donald Trump, can somehow get back into the White House and pardon him again.
Part of Bannon’s most recent ploy includes a laughable argument to a federal appeals court that he’s too important to American politics to be imprisoned in the four months leading to an election, and that’s why the government wants to take away his microphone:
"There is also a strong public interest in Mr. Bannon remaining free during the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. The government seeks to imprison him for the four-month period immediately preceding the November election—giving an appearance that the government is trying to prevent Mr. Bannon from fully assisting with the campaign and speaking out on important issues, and also ensuring the government exacts its pound of flesh before the possible end of the Biden Administration.
No one can dispute that Mr. Bannon remains a significant figure. He is a top advisor to the President Trump campaign, and millions of Americans look to him for information on matters important to the ongoing presidential campaign. Yet from prison, Mr. Bannon’s ability to participate in the campaign and comment on important matters of policy would be drastically curtailed, if not eliminated. There is no reason to force that outcome in a case that presents substantial legal issues."
As Red Painter pointed out, there are no “substantial legal issues” to Bannon’s case. He defied the subpoena and was criminally charged, just like you and I would be.
Vanity Fair’s Bess Levin made another good point, that the place Americans “look to him for information” on important matters is his podcast “where, among other things, he has called for beheading top government officials and famously told listeners, on January 5, 2021, “We’re on the point of attack” and “All hell will break loose tomorrow.”
Furthermore, he has previously claimed his podcast “can not and will not be silenced,” Levin noted. He texted NBC after he was sentenced to report to prison on July, “4 hours a day 5 days a week and two on Saturday.… The WarRoom is a military command center for MAGA—can’t stop and won’t until we achieve final victory.”
Sorry, Stevie, I feel confident your “I have to host my podcast” excuse will not keep you out of jail.
