[ad_1]
Steve Bannon’s lawyers are asking that their client avoid prison altogether after prosecutors asked for six months’ time and accused him of ‘bad faith.’
In a 19-page memo in response to a blistering government filing, Bannon’s team argues that their client should receive only probation after being found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress.
They argue that the judge overseeing sentencing should look for ‘something more’ than simple contrition.
‘Should a person who has spent a lifetime listening to experts – as a naval officer, investment banker, corporate executive, and Presidential advisor – be jailed for relying on the advice of his lawyers?’ they ask.
‘Should a person be jailed where the prosecutor declined to prosecute others who were similarly situated – with the only difference being that this person uses their voice to express strongly held political views?’ his lawyer, Evan Corcoran and David Schoen ask.
Prosecutors as asking that former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon spend six months in prison for contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena by the House Select Committee on January 6. Bannon’s lawyers countered that he should get probation, and that any sentence should be through home confinement
They say a sentence of probation is warranted for the former chief White House strategist, and also ask the sentencing judge to issue a stay of any sentence to allow for an appeal.
Bannon faces sentencing Friday, following his trial for contempt of Congress, after he failed to appear before the panel probing the Capitol riot and the events of Jan. 6th.
In the alternative, Bannon that he be allowed to serve any sentence in home confinement.
He has a Capitol Hill row house that he also uses to film his daily War Room Pandemic podcast, which is where he is expected to serve any home confinement.
Bannon’s team revisits the argument from his trial that the longtime Trump advisor was listening to his lawyer, Robert Costello, when he received a subpoena in September 2021. Costello pointed to statements being made by Trump’s lawyers that the president was claiming executive privilege over advice he received as president.
‘Upon receiving this letter from President Trump’s counsel, Mr. Costello advised Mr. Bannon that because executive privilege belongs to the President, Mr. Bannon did not have the ability to waive executive privilege, or to decide for himself which documents or communications were covered by President Trump’s privilege assertion,’ according to his filing.
Prosecutors are asking that Bannon spend six months behind bars for refusing to testify before the House January 6 committee.
The government filed a 24-page sentencing memo Monday in which it accused Bannon of ‘flouting’ the law and holding on to essential documents. The memo notes that the request for six months in prison is at the ‘top end’ of sentencing guidelines for the offense.
‘By flouting the Select Committee’s subpoena and its authority, the Defendant exacerbated that assault,’ wrote US Attorney Matthew Graves in the memo. ‘To this day, he continues to unlawfully withhold documents and testimony that stand to help the Committee’s authorized investigation to get to the bottom of what led to January 6 and ascertain what steps must be taken to ensure that it never happens again. That cannot be tolerated.’
‘Respect for the rule of law is essential to the functioning of the United States government and to preserving the freedom and good order this country has enjoyed for more than two centuries. The Defendant’s bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment,’ prosecutors concluded.
Prosecutors also want Bannon to pay $200,000 in fines.
Earlier this month Bannon appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he is on trial for allegedly defrauding donors as part of a ‘We Build the Wall’ scheme
The House January 6 Committee once again focused on Bannon during its hearing last week
‘The Defendant’s bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment,’ prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo
Prosecutors filed a scathing sentencing memo where they accuse Bannon of a ‘bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt’
President Donald Trump pardoned Bannon hours before leaving office after his former campaign advisor was charged with defrauding donors as part of a ‘We Build the Wall’ scheme to use private funds to build border wall structures.
Bannon is still being charged on state charges in New York on the alleged fraud. Trump’s pardon applied to the emerging federal case.
The House Select January 6 Committee subpoenaed former President Trump last week – setting up yet another potential legal clash. Trump has yet to say he will appear, although legal experts say it is unlikely he would do so and unlikely he would be charged should he refuse to appear, even after being painted by committee members as the central figure in the events leading to the attack on the Capitol.
Bannon cited executive privilege when he was first ordered to appear before the committee, saying he could not speak about the matters in question without permission from Trump.
Prosecutors continued to try to slap down his claim in the sentencing memo.
‘He did so even though executive privilege could not possibly permit the Defendant’s total noncompliance; the Defendant was a private citizen who had not worked at the White House for years; the subpoena’s demands sought records and information wholly unrelated to the Defendant’s tenure there; and multiple categories of the subpoena were completely unrelated to communications with the former President.’
‘From the time he was initially subpoenaed, [Bannon] has shown that his true reasons for total noncompliance have nothing to do with his purported respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or executive privilege, and everything to do with his personal disdain for the members of Congress sitting on the Committee and their effort to investigate the attack on our country’s peaceful transfer of power,’ the government wrote. ‘His noncompliance has been complete and unremitting.’
[ad_2]
Source link
