Steve Bannon is a free man after he was released from federal prison Tuesday after serving four months.
Bannon, a right-wing podcast host and former campaign official for former President Donald Trump, was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress in July 2022.
He was convicted for refusing to comply with subpoenas from the House committee that was investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, NBC News reported.
“The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” a Justice Department prosecutor said at his trial. He added Bannon “had contempt for Congress,” which was trying to find out “why Jan. 6 happened and how to make sure it never happens again.”
After his conviction, Bannon was able to hold off going to prison for two years as he exhausted his appeals.
In June, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, ordered Bannon to report to prison by July 1.
Bannon, 70, served his time at FCI Danbury, a low-security federal correctional institution in Connecticut.
Bannon, host of a podcast called “Bannon’s War Room,” said before going to prison he was “proud” to serve the time. He also asserted there was “no chance” Democrats could win the 2024 election unless “they’re stealing it.”
Trump faces four criminal charges for trying overturn the results of the 2020 election — conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
A federal grand jury indictment stated Trump knowingly used “unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing” claims regarding voter fraud to try to change the outcome of the election when President Joe Biden was declared the winner.
