Steve Bannon Asks Supreme Court To Delay His Prison Sentence | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, requested the Supreme Court on Friday to delay his jail sentence whereas he fights his convictions for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the assault on U.S. Capitol.

The emergency utility got here after a federal appeals courtroom panel rejected Bannon’s bid to keep away from reporting to jail by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence. It was addressed to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals from courts in Washington, D.C.

The excessive courtroom requested the Justice Department to reply to the request by Wednesday, days earlier than the courtroom is about to start its summer time recess. The courtroom denied an identical request from one other Trump aide shortly after receiving a response in March.

Bannon was convicted almost two years in the past of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit down for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the opposite for refusing to supply paperwork associated to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Bannon has forged the case as politically motivated, and his legal professional David Schoen has mentioned the case raises “serious constitutional issues” that must be examined by the Supreme Court.

If Bannon goes to jail subsequent month, he’ll seemingly should serve his full sentence earlier than the excessive courtroom has the possibility to evaluation these questions, because the courtroom is because of take its summer time recess on the finish of June, legal professional Trent McCotter wrote in his emergency utility.

His lawyer says the previous adviser didn’t ignore the subpoena however was nonetheless negotiating with the congressional committee when he was charged. His earlier legal professional advised him that the subpoena was invalid as a result of the Republican former president has asserted government privilege and the committee wouldn’t enable a Trump lawyer within the room.

In courtroom papers, Bannon’s attorneys additionally beforehand argued that there’s a “strong public interest” in permitting him to stay free within the run-up to the 2024 election as a result of Bannon is a prime adviser to Trump’s marketing campaign.

Bannon’s jail time period has been delayed as he appealed. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered him to show himself in after an appeals courtroom panel upheld his contempt of Congress convictions.

A second Trump aide, commerce adviser Peter Navarro, was additionally convicted of contempt of Congress. He reported to jail in March to serve his four-month sentence after the Supreme Court refused his bid to delay the sentence.

Courts have rejected his executive-privilege argument, discovering Navarro couldn’t show Trump had truly invoked it.

Bannon can be dealing with felony costs in New York state courtroom alleging he duped donors who gave cash to construct a wall alongside the U.S. southern border. Bannon has pleaded not responsible to cash laundering, conspiracy, fraud and different costs, and that trial has been postponed till a minimum of the top of September.