Why is Steve Bannon going to prison?

With increasing frequency, the people around Donald Trump — the very same people who leveraged him into office — are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law.

As it turns out, a lot of illegal dealings went on behind the scenes ahead of, during, and even following Trump’s term in office, but easily among the most severe was the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans have been trying to sweep it under the rug, but thankfully the people in charge are well aware of how serious the incident was. Make no mistake, this was an outright attack on our democracy. No amount of whataboutism will ever change that.

Steve Bannon, former Trump strategist, former executive chairman of Breitbart News, habitual wearer of an unreasonable number of layered shirts at any given moment, and current Jabba the Hutt impersonator, is chief among Trump’s one-time inner circle facing harsh consequences. He was a major player in the attempted insurrection, and his refusal to face the music for his actions officially landed the one-time Trump advisor in prison.

Is Steve Bannon going to prison?

Steve Bannon’s been dodging accountability over his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack for years now, but it seems his time evading responsibility is at an end. On May 10, a federal appeals court upheld a contempt-of-Congress conviction against Bannon, who failed to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee. He was found guilty some time ago, but the upholding of his conviction lead to hard time for the 70-year-old.

The DC Circuit’s official affirmation of that conviction, even as they slapped aside Bannon’s attempted challenges, landed Bannon with a short — but still satisfying — conviction. He was officially slapped with a sentence, and four months in federal prison.

Why is Steve Bannon going to prison?

As noted above, Bannon’s spent plenty of time testing, and even outright breaking, the law over the last few decades, but he’s not serving time for any of them. Not really, at least. He’s not going to jail due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot, nor for the fraud and money laundering trial that was nullified following Donald Trump’s last-minute pardon.

Instead, Bannon was charged following his refusal to adhere to a congressional subpoena. The U.S. House Select Committee subpoenaed Bannon in late 2021 in relation to the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, and Bannon failed to comply. He was later indicted by a federal grand jury, and less than a year later — in July of 2022 — Bannon was found guilty on two criminal contempt charges. The first related to his refusal to surrender documents, and the second for dodging his testimony.

As a result, Bannon was ordered to report to a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut no later than July 1, 2024. He reported to prison right around noon, and will spend the next four months behind bars.