Steve Bannon Begins Four-Month Prison Sentence for Contempt

Above: Steve Bannon, the former Donald Trump White House strategist, addresses the media on July 1, 2024 in Danbury, Connecticut. Image copyright: David Dee Delgado/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

  • Former advisor to Pres. Donald Trump Steve Bannon traveled to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut on Monday to serve his four-month prison sentence on charges of contempt of Congress.

  • Before turning himself in, Bannon told a crowd that he's "proud to go to prison" if it's what it takes to "stand up to tyranny." Addressing a priest who attended to give spiritual guidance he said: "Pray for our enemies. They’re the ones who are going to need the prayers."


The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Regarding the contempt case, Bannon blatantly defied a lawful congressional subpoena — violations that a jury found him guilty of. This shouldn't surprise anyone, however, given Bannon's other legal troubles. The man who hindered a congressional investigation is also under indictment in New York on conspiracy charges after he fraudulently took donor money for what he falsely claimed would go toward building a border wall.

Pro-Trump narrative

Bannon is in fact a political prisoner given that he's only sitting in jail due to his affiliation with Donald Trump. No one else in modern history has gone to jail for defying a congressional subpoena, but in the age of Trump, the establishment politicians and their friends in the weaponized Dept. of Justice have essentially persecuted their opponents. The Jan. 6 Committee was also improperly formed and run, which makes this entire saga fraudulent from the beginning.


Metaculus Prediction


Public figures in this story


Establishment split

CRITICAL

PRO

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