DOJ recommends 6 months in prison for Steve Bannon

Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum filed in the U.S. district court in Washington that from the moment Bannon received the subpoena from the House panel in late September 2021, “he has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt” and still has not turned over any documents to investigators or appeared for testimony.

“Throughout the pendency of this case, the Defendant has exploited his notoriety — through courthouse press conferences and his War Room podcast — to display to the public the source of his bad-faith refusal to comply with the Committee’s subpoena: a total disregard for government processes and the law,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.

Bannon, who served as former White House chief strategist to Trump, was charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after the House voted last year to hold him in criminal contempt for defying the subpoena from the select committee. The case went to trial and a jury of 12 Washington, D.C., residents convicted Bannon in July on both counts.

He is set to be sentenced Friday, the capstone of a chaotic legal battle that included efforts by Bannon to postpone the proceedings and, days before the start of his trial, express a newfound willingness to testify before the House committee.

Rob Legare contributed to this report