'They're not going to shut up MAGA!' Federal judge orders former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to prison

A federal judge has ordered former Trump adviser and "War Room" host Stephen K. Bannon to report to jail by July 1.

Bannon told reporters outside the courthouse Thursday that "all of this is about one thing. This is about shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump."

"Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, the entire Justice Department — they're not going to shut up Trump. They're not going to shut up Navarro. They're not going to shut up Bannon. And they're certainly not going to shut up MAGA!" added Bannon.

Background

While it is apparently acceptable for Democrats and elements of the Biden Department of Justice to ignore subpoenas by House Republicans, that tolerance is evidently not universal.

Bannon was convicted in July 2022 of two charges of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the Democrat-controlled House Select committee investigating the Jan. 6 protests. He was subsequently sentenced to four months in prison.

'Can I ask you what American justice even means anymore?'

In response to the ruling, Bannon said, "We're gonna win at the Supreme Court," reported the National Pulse. "There's not a jail built, not a prison built that can shut me up."

Around the time of Bannon's sentencing, Blaze Media cofounder and nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Becksaid in a special, "Do you recognize your country anymore? We used to be a nation of fundamental rights granted to us by God, and we lived under a system of laws that promised justice. Not social justice, but justice justice. Can I ask you what American justice even means anymore?"

"Was it justice when Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress? We've seen people defy Congress for decades, but no one ever goes to jail," continued Beck. "The last time someone went to jail for this was back in 1961. Before that ... 1948! It's rare, even though we've seen people openly defy Congress time after time."

"Selectively deciding whether or not they'll decide to enforce the law isn't justice," added Beck. "[Bannon will do] four months in jail, but in January 2021, the former FBI lawyer that got caught falsifying evidence to spy on a member of President Trump's staff was spared prison and given a minor slap on the wrist."

Bannon was not the only Trump adviser subjected to selective justice.

The following September, Trump's former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was also convicted of contempt of Congress.

Navarro's lawyers wrote to the Supreme Court saying that the "prosecution of a senior presidential advisor asserting executive privilege conflicts with the constitutional independence required by the doctrine of separation of powers."

"Not once before Dr. Navarro's prosecution has the Department of Justice concluded a senior presidential advisor may be prosecuted for contempt of congress following an assertion of executive privilege," added his lawyers.

Having been unsuccessful in his appeal, Navarro reported to prison in March.

Bannon to prison

Carl Nichols, the Trump-nominated judge overseeing Bannon's case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, initially paused his sentence while the "War Room" host appealed his conviction, reported CNN.

However, a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously tossed Bannon's challenges. Partisan prosecutors then asked Nichols to send Bannon packing to prison.

The judge indicated Thursday that he no longer felt there was cause to pause Bannon's sentence "any longer."

'Biden and his aides are taking off the political battlefield two of Trump's top surrogates before the 2024 presidential election.'

Bannon's defense attorneys reportedly argued ahead of Thursday's hearing that the judge lacked the authority to toss him in prison before he exhausted his options to appeal, including to a full panel of the D.C. Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court as Navarro had attempted.

Outside the court, one of Bannon's attorneys said, "This case raises a dynamic separation of powers issue. We know from years and decades of case law that the president and a former president has the authority to invoke executive privilege. ... It's his prerogative to invoke and it's presumptively valid when invoked. It's not for Congress to determine whether it was an appropriate invocation or otherwise, and Congress cannot be the arbiter of how to respond to that. Only a court can be."

Reactions

Christopher Bedford, senior editor for politics and Washington correspondent for Blaze Media, said, "It paints a pretty clear picture of the DOJ's priorities that you're seeing Steve Bannon actually go to prison for contempt of Congress while so many others have slipped by."

"I would like to say that it sets a precedent that Republicans ought to use in their own investigations. For example, the Republican leaders of the House Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees referred Hunter Biden for arrest for contempt for lying to Congress. But that's not going to be enforced," said Bedford. "And it's not going to set a precedent because Republicans aren't going to take the same tack that Democrats have, unfortunately."

Mike Davis of the Article III Project noted in a statement, "We have had constitutional executive privilege for 250 years — going back to George Washington — so the President of the United States can receive candid, confidential advice from his advisors without fear their advice will get publicly aired before courts or Congress."

"President Biden and his Attorney General Merrick Garland have shamefully destroyed this, in their partisan quest to politicize and weaponize the Biden Justice Department to go after President Trump and his top aides," said Davis. "Biden and his aides are taking off the political battlefield two of Trump's top surrogates before the 2024 presidential election."

Davis added that this was all part of "a broader criminal conspiracy by Biden, his aides, and his allies to politicize and weaponize law enforcement and intel agencies to violate the constitutional rights of Trump, his aides, and his allies for the purposes of partisan lawfare and election interference."

Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events and frequent guest on Bannon's "War Room," highlighted the nominal Republicans who voted to hold Bannon in contempt and effectively sealed his fate.

Natalie Winters, cohost of "War Room," tweeted, "F*** Merrick Garland," then "War Room isn't going anywhere."

Former Trump White House official Darren Beattie noted that when the Democrats are no longer "able to force social media companies to censor, they resort to simply jailing their critics. Prison is the second stage of deplatforming."

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