Steve Bannon, an outspoken right-wing figure in American politics and former senior adviser to Donald Trump, reported to prison on Monday to begin a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress. He was convicted of defying a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Bannon, 70, spoke defiantly as he showed up at a federal prison in Connecticut. “I’m proud of going to prison today,” Bannon said, “if it’s what it takes to stand up to Joe Biden.” Bannon and others argue that legal proceedings stemming from the January 6 insurrection against the seat of US democracy amount to political persecution designed to thwart Trump’s bid for re-election in November.
A cluster of people waving “Trump 2024” flags greeted Bannon outside the prison, as did Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fiercely pro-Trump lawmaker from Georgia who is one of the new faces of the Republican Party tightly controlled by the former president. One of the masterminds behind Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022.
