Steve Bannon faces prison for defying Jan. 6 probe after court rejects appeal

Right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon is likely headed to prison after a federal appeals court Friday upheld his conviction for defying the Congressional probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The hardline supporter of former President Donald Trump is on the hook for a four-month stint behind bars after a three-judge panel of the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals unanimously rejected his effort to overturn his conviction on a contempt of Congress charge.

“We have no basis to depart from that binding precedent, and because none of Bannon’s other challenges to his convictions have merit, we affirm (the conviction of Bannon),” the panel ruled in a 20-page opinion.

Bannon’s lawyers did not immediately say if he plans to file a long-shot appeal to the full D.C. appeals court or to the Supreme Court.

The onetime Trump White House chief strategist now hosts a podcast that is extremely popular with supporters of Trump.

He was convicted in a 2022 federal trial in which a jury rejected his claims that he didn’t cooperate with the probe because he believed Trump had invoked executive privilege.

In the days and weeks leading up to Jan. 6, Bannon played a key role in riling up MAGA extremists to attend Trump’s rally in which he demanded that his supporters should “fight like hell” to keep him in power despite losing the 2020 election to Biden.

He participated in meetings with fellow pro-Trump leaders at a “war room” in the Willard Hotel where congressional investigators say the plans were hatched to storm the Capitol in a failed effort to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election.

Many Trump insiders cooperated with the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. But a handful of them, including Bannon, balked at its demands for documents and testimony about their role in planning and carrying out the attack.

The House committee referred Bannon for prosecution along with White House economic advisor Peter Navarro and chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress and is serving a four-month sentence in a Miami federal prison after his appeals were rejected.

Prosecutors declined to charge Meadows, possibly because he did hand over some text messages and interacted with the committee before pulling the plug on his cooperation.