Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon has been released from prison early, after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Bannon left the federal correctional institution in Danbury, Connecticut, according to Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons. He planned to hold a news conference later in the day in Manhattan, his representatives said. He is also expected to resume his podcast on Tuesday.
Bannon, 70, reported to the prison on 1 July after the supreme court rejected his attempt to delay the prison sentence while he appealed against his conviction.
A jury found Bannon guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the 6 January House committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement inTrump’s efforts to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
When he began serving his sentence in July, Bannon called himself a “political prisoner”.
“I am proud of going to prison,” he said at the time, adding that he was standing up to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, and a “corrupt” justice department.
Trump, a Republican, is seeking to regain the presidency in next week’s election against the Democratic vice-president, Kamala Harris.
After a federal appeals court panel upheld Bannon’s convictions in May, Bannon is asking the full appeals court to hear his case. His legal team had argued that the congressional subpoena was invalid because Trump had asserted executive privilege. Prosecutors, though, say Bannon had left the White House years before and Trump had never invoked executive privilege in front of the committee.
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Bannon faces additional criminal charges in New York state court, alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. A trial in that case is scheduled to begin in December.