Steve Bannon should not be given early release from federal prison, prosecutors have told a judge.
The filing, by federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, before a Washington, D.C judge, sharply criticizes Bannon for claiming that a circuit appeal court’s delay in deciding whether to take Bannon’s case was an indication that it had substantial merit.
In a filing on Thursday before the Washington federal district court, Graves said that the real reason for the delay is likely that the circuit appeal court is overworked after the summer break.
Former Donald Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon at the Federal Correctional Institution where he began his four-month sentence on July 1, 2024 in Danbury, Connecticut. Prosecutors have objected to Bannon’s early release.
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
He accused Bannon of trying to “read tea leaves” on the appeal court’s inner working without any real proof of the court’s intentions.
“The fact that the D.C. Circuit has not yet decided the defendant’s petition for rehearing en banc does not establish that the defendant’s appeal now presents a ‘substantial question,’ Graves wrote.
“The defendant shows no basis to assume that the D.C. Circuit is not simply dealing with a heavy workload after a summer recess and certainly offers no support for his speculation that he will receive rehearing en banc. At bottom, the defendant’s attempt to ‘read tea leaves’ does not establish any basis for the Court to release a defendant whom this Court, the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court have ruled must be detained,” Graves added.
The prosecution is saying in effect just because Bannon thinks his case has merit is not a good reason for early release, whatever happens, that can’t be decided until the appeal is heard.
Bannon, a conservative podcaster and former Donald Trump White House chief strategist, had, despite repeated warnings, failed to respond to a subpoena issued to him by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
He was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022 after he was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress. He had denied the charges.
He began his sentence on July 1 at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
Newsweek sought email comment from Bannon’s attorney on Friday.
Bannon, 70, is seeking either to be released on bail or to be placed on supervised release, according to a filing on August 29 by his attorney, Trent McCotter.
In his filing, McCotter stated that the Washington, D.C Circuit appeal court is considering this legal argument and whether to revisit the 1961 case of Licavoli v. U.S, in which it was decided that a defendant cannot claim he was relying on an attorney’s advice in answer to a contempt of Congress charge.
“The D.C. Circuit promptly called for the government to submit a response on ‘the meaning of ‘willfully’ and whether we should revisit Licavoli v. United States,'” he wrote. “Calling for a response is rare—the D.C. Circuit has done so in only seven other cases (two of which are related) during the entirety of 2024.”
That appeal court order was made on July 22.
Bannon claims he was relying on the advice of a previous attorney and not McCotter.
