OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Justice Department is continuing its campaign against podcaster Steve Bannon, one of former President Donald Trump’s early top campaign advisers.
According to reports, the DoJ is set to recommend prison time for Bannon after he was charged with defying a congressional subpoena in a highly unusual — and, conservatives say, politicized — case.
“For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment – the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines’ range – and fined $200,000 – based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation,” the department said in a court filing on Monday, per CNN.
The DoJ’s filing said that Bannon “freely answered questions about his family, professional life, personal background, and health.” However, it continued, “the Defendant refused to disclose his financial records, instead insisting that he is willing and able to pay any fine imposed, including the maximum fine on each count of conviction.”
“The rioters who overran the Capitol on January 6 did not just attack a building – they assaulted the rule of law upon which this country was built and through which it endures. By flouting the Select Committee’s subpoena and its authority, the Defendant exacerbated that assault,” the filing continued.
Earlier this month, Bannon made a bold prediction about his former presidential boss and the GOP in general.
“2022 is how we are going to stop this. We are going to have a sweeping… I think we can have a 100-seat pickup in the House of Representatives. I think we can flip the Senate. We intend to destroy the Democrat party as a national institution, from school boards all the way up to state legislatures, attorney generals, secretaries of state, to the House and the Senate. Trump is definitely running in 2024,” Bannon predicted on his Real America’s Voice program, “War Room: Pandemic.”
When asked if Trump will run for reelection in 2024, Bannon answered, “Oh, it’s not even a question. He’s going to run. I think you can see from his speeches at his rallies, he’s definitely running. There’s no doubt. It’s clear that Biden isn’t going to run for reelection.”
“Biden and Kamala Harris are going to be so crushed this November, the Democrats are going to be throwing a lot of people overboard,” Bannon continued.
A few months ago, Bannon spoke to a group of Boston Republicans and argued that he believes Trump will come roaring back to solidify his place as the leader of the Republican Party.
“Going forward, we can transform the Republican Party into more of a MAGA movement … just immerse the (Make America Great Again) movement with the Republican Party, and we’re going to have massive victories in the future,” Bannon said.
Bannon even floated the idea of Trump becoming a member of Congress, becoming Speaker of the House in 2022, and then impeaching Joe Biden.
“Trump is a disruptor, but he has a long-term vision because I absolutely believe in the marrow of my bones that he will be our nominee in 2024. He’ll come back to us. We’ll have a sweeping victory in 2022, and he’ll lead us in 2024. We totally get rid of Nancy Pelosi, and the first act of President Trump as speaker will be to impeach Joe Biden for his illegitimate activities of stealing the presidency,” Bannon said.
Bannon told the crowd that they “need to confront this radical Biden administration every day.”
As for his pending case with the Justice Department, one noted legal expert said over the summer that he did not think that the conviction would be negated because he doesn’t believe Bannon got a fair trial.
“Entirely predictable and entirely in violation of the Constitution,” attorney and former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said in an interview with Newsmax. “The only provision of the Constitution which appears basically twice is trial by jury, in front of a fair jury.
“Number one, he didn’t have a fair jury. Number two, the judge took his defenses away from him. The judge denied him a jury trial. They wouldn’t allow him to put on evidence that he believed there was an executive privilege involved and he wanted a judicial determination before he violated the executive privilege. That issue could not be presented to the jury,” he added.
