Steve Bannon, former advisor to former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after his arrangement in NYS Supreme Court on September 08, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by David Dee Delgado / Getty Images)
Prosecutors just asked a judge to imprison right-wing political provocateur Steve Bannon for six months for defying the Congressional investigation into the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.In a blistering sentencing memo sent Monday, the feds slammed Bannon’s “bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt,” including the time he told the Department of Justice to “suck on it.” In addition to jail time, prosecutors also recommended a fine of $200,000. Bannon was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress in a one-week trial last summer, after he refused to comply with subpoenas for testimony and records relating to his knowledge of the Jan. 6 unrest at the Capitol. The longest sentence allowable under the law is two years, and the judge is not bound by the request of prosecutors. But prosecutors wrote that six months represents the top of the range calculated under federal sentencing guidelines, which consider the broader circumstances of the case. Bannon was convicted in a trial lasting less than one week last summer, and will be sentenced by the judge on Friday, Oct 21. Bannon had promised to turn his criminal trial into the “misdemeanor from hell” by dragging high-profile Democrats into the courtroom to testify, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the judge blocked those attempts, and the jury took barely an afternoon to find him guilty. “The Committee sought documents and testimony from the Defendant relevant to a matter of national importance: the circumstances that led to a violent attack on the Capitol and disruption of the peaceful transfer of power. In response, the Defendant flouted the Committee's authority and ignored the subpoena's demands," prosecutors wrote. Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.
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