Steve Bannon: Prosecutors want six months in prison for Trump’s ex-senior adviser



CNN

Federal prosecutors want Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, to be sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of Congress, according to a proposal filed Monday.

In addition to hours of service, the government is asking for a $200,000 fine.

“Due to his continued and malicious contempt of Congress, the defendant should be sentenced to six months in prison — the upper end of the sentencing guidelines range — and a $200,000 fine — based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperating with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentence financial investigations ,” prosecutors wrote in court filings on Monday.

They said he did not fully comply with probation office regulations during the pre-sentencing investigation, and wrote that Bannon “freely answered questions about his family, professional life, personal background and health. But the defendant declined to disclose his financial records,” Instead, he insists that he is willing and able to pay any fines, including the maximum fine for each conviction.”

The prosecutor added: “The rioters who occupied the Capitol on January 6 didn’t just attack a building – they violated the rule of law on which this country is built and lives. The defendants ignored the special committee’s subpoena and its authority, exacerbated this attack.”

Bannon was convicted by a jury in July of two counts of contempt of Congress. His schedule is Friday.

Prosecutors also said that, once subpoenaed, Bannon’s lawyers sought an attorney for the former president to pursue claims of executive privilege “even though executive privilege could not have allowed the defendant to fail to comply at all.”

The administration said Bannon received a letter saying there might be a problem with privilege, but the letter did not direct any specific documents to be withheld because Trump’s lawyers were simply not sure if there were any privileged documents or information. The government added that the former president “does not believe the defendants have immunity from testimony”.

Prosecutors also revealed that a last-minute offer to comply with the committee’s subpoena was made “with strings attached” ahead of Bannon’s trial this summer.

“That said, it would require the committee and the government to agree that if the defendant complies with the subpoena, the government will delay and ultimately dismiss his trial,” according to the new filing. The government obtained this information in an interview with committee staff on 7 October.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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