Steve Bannon has long been famous for his odd and never-fully-explained habit of wearing multiple collared shirts on top of each other. In fact, his idiosyncratic fashion decisions once led his old employer, former President Donald Trump, to derisively dub him “Sloppy Steve,” after Trump had a falling out with the far-right firebrand and onetime political adviser. But this week during his criminal trial for contempt of Congress, Bannon didn’t just double down on his mind-boggling decision to wear three shirts, plus a suit jacket, two days in a row. He evidently wore the same three shirts, plus a jacket, two days in a row—in 90-degree Fahrenheit heat. Bannon, for some reason, decided to rock a black crew neck, a purple collared shirt, another dark-bluish-grey collared shirt, and a dark jacket on both Monday and Tuesday to all-day trial dates at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Bannon is defending himself from two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for failing to answer subpoenas from the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6. The charges could send him to prison for as long as two years if he’s convicted and sentenced to the maximum allowable term under the law. On Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn blasted Bannon for acting as if he were “above the law,” although it’s clear he thinks of himself as above the laws of fashion.
Advertisement
It wasn’t immediately clear on Tuesday whether Bannon wore literally the exact same pieces of apparel that he wore on Monday or simply has multiple pairs of identical (or nearly identical) shirts. Bannon ignored a question shouted at him about his sartorial decision-making from the crowd of journalists and onlookers gathered outside the courthouse on Monday. Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.