Steve Bannon cites law Trump signed in hopes of prison exit

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:23:10 +0000

Steve Bannon speaks outside Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., in July 2024 as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left, listens (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson).

One day after federal prosecutors said his arguments in favor of an early prison exit were “footless,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is trying to “take advantage” of the First Step Act, criminal justice reform signed into law and “championed” by then President Donald Trump, in a bid for some leniency on his punishment for the “non-violent” offense of stonewalling the Jan. 6 Committee.

The Friday reply from Bannon, which comes weeks after he asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to reimpose bail pending appeal based on “significant events,” reiterated that the federal inmate’s contempt of Congress stint behind bars should end before Election Day.

But in the event that Nichols doesn’t want to go that far, Bannon alternatively proposed a “brief period of supervised release, in conjunction with a brief sentence reduction if necessary,” so he “could take advantage of First Step Act earned-time credits available to nearly every other inmate serving time for non-violent offenses.”

“Having to wait thirty days for the BOP to refuse to seek such relief, as the government insists here, would force Mr. Bannon to wait for nearly the entirety of the remainder of his sentence—time that he could otherwise serve on supervised release under the First Step Act,” the reply said. “Having to wait to exhaust BOP remedies would thus effectively preclude Mr. Bannon from being able to obtain any meaningful relief from this Court.”

Bannon was convicted by a jury in July 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition, and he was subsequently sentenced to four months in prison. At first, Nichols allowed Bannon to remain free as he appealed his sentence and conviction. When the Supreme Court declined to stop Bannon’s incarceration, however, Bannon spoke outside of prison walls in Connecticut on July 1 and declared, “I’m proud to go to prison.”

On Thursday, federal prosecutors called the bail or supervised release asks baseless.

“The defendant shows no basis for the Court to reverse its earlier ruling lifting the stay of his sentence, a ruling that both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court have effectively endorsed,” prosecutors said. “He also fails to justify modifying his sentence to impose a period of supervised release.”

Prosecutors, writing that Bannon “fails to overcome the presumption of detention pending appeal” and provided Nichols no reason to disturb his prior ruling based on the hope that maybe the whole U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will rehear Bannon’s case.

“There is no basis to conclude from the pendency of the defendant’s rehearing petition that it is ‘very likely’ the D. C. Circuit will either grant rehearing en banc or deny rehearing with a dissent,” the government said. “The defendant shows no basis to assume that the D.C. Circuit is not simply dealing with a heavy workload after a summer recess and certainly offers no support for his speculation that he will receive rehearing en banc.”

“At bottom, the defendant’s attempt to ‘read tea leaves’ does not establish any basis for the Court to release a defendant whom this Court, the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court have ruled must be detained,” prosecutors added.

Bureau of Prison records show that Bannon, 70, is slated to be released from FCI Danbury on Oct. 29.

Colin Kalmbacher and Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.

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Feds slam Bannon’s ‘footless’ attempt to get out of prison

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 02:06:37 +0000

Steve Bannon arrives to speak outside Danbury Federal Correctional Institution, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Danbury, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Federal prosecutors say that Steve Bannon must stay behind bars until the end of his sentence — and that his attempts to obtain an early release are without merit.

Bannon, a longtime Donald Trump ally and former White House strategist, was convicted in July 2022 of contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a subpoena from the since-dismantled House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. After multiple attempts to stay out of prison, including a plea directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, Bannon finally reported to federal prison on July 1 to serve his four-month sentence, which is scheduled to end on Oct. 29.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Bannon requested in August to either have bail reinstated or to get out of prison on supervised release. He argued that new “developments” and “significant events” warranted the change.

In a filing Thursday, prosecutors said Bannon’s arguments are fruitless.

“The defendant shows no basis for the Court to reverse its earlier ruling lifting the stay of his sentence, a ruling that both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court have effectively endorsed,” the government’s opposition to Bannon’s release request said. “He also fails to justify modifying his sentence to impose a period of supervised release.”

Prosecutors reminded U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, that he has already found that Bannon “fails to overcome the presumption of detention pending appeal,” and that he “has shown no reason why the Court should reverse its earlier ruling.”

The government noted that Bannon presented a “changed circumstances” argument, but doesn’t provide evidence or support for that claim.

“The defendant does not claim that there has been either a change in his circumstances or a change in the law,” the filing said. “Indeed, the only relevant new circumstances are that both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court have agreed with the Court’s determination that the defendant does not merit release pending appeal.

A key argument on which Bannon’s lawyers relied — specifically, that a circuit judge’s change of heart on the meaning of a precedential ruling on which the circuit’s three-judge panel relied “establishes that his appeal raises a ‘substantial question”” — doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, the government lawyers said.

“[T]he defendant cites no authority, nor are we aware of any, suggesting that one judge’s dissent establishes a ‘substantial question,’” the filing says. “Moreover, the Bannon II majority was aware of Judge Walker’s dissent but nonetheless found that the defendant had not met his burden under the statute. Similarly, the Supreme Court knew the full history of this case — including Judge Walker’s dissent — yet found no basis to grant the defendant’s application for release pending appeal.”

Prosecutors also criticize Bannon’s effort to extract a particular interpretation of the fact that the D.C. Circuit has not yet decided whether to rehear his appeal en banc.

“There is no basis to conclude from the pendency of the defendant’s rehearing petition that it is ‘very likely’ the D. C. Circuit will either grant rehearing en banc or deny rehearing with a dissent,” the filing says. “The defendant shows no basis to assume that the D.C. Circuit is not simply dealing with a heavy workload after a summer recess and certainly offers no support for his speculation that he will receive rehearing en banc.”

Prosecutors also took aim at Bannon’s request for a sentence of supervised release — a request that they say Bannon has not earned.

“The defendant has not presented any ‘extraordinary and compelling reason’ to reduce his sentence,” prosecutors say (citations omitted). “Instead, the defendant argues that accommodation of his desire to receive ‘earned-time credit’ constitutes an ‘exception and compelling’ reason. This argument is footless.”

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Steve Bannon cites law Trump signed in hopes of prison exit

Feds slam Bannon’s ‘footless’ attempt to get out of prison