WASHINGTON — An appeals court on Thursday overruled a former Trump adviser Steve Bannon He is asking to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress.
A three-judge panel for the DC Circuit He rejected Bannon’s request in a 2-1 decision in which the two justices ruled that the arguments raised in Bannon’s request did not present a “substantial question of law” that could overturn his conviction.
“To prove Bannon’s willful misrepresentation, the government must prove that the witness knew his conduct was illegal — inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s approach to the statute,” said the ruling by U.S. Court of Appeals Judges Cornelia Pillard and Bradley Garcia. .
A third judge, Justin Walker, dissented, writing that arguments about Bannon’s state of mind when he refused to comply with the committee’s Jan. 6 subpoena present a “close question” that could be resolved in Bannon’s favor. US Supreme Court.
“This close question could be significant in Bannon’s trial,” Walker wrote.
Bannon was ordered to report to prison earlier this month July 1. In previous filings with the D.C. Circuit, his attorneys expressed their intention to seek relief from the Supreme Court if the appeals court panel ruled against them.
Bannon’s team filed an unsuccessful emergency motion on June 11, asking a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court’s earlier ruling that he must report to the prison in July.
Bannon’s attorney, Trent McCotter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
David Schoen, an attorney who previously represented Bannon, said he “resigned last Tuesday” after seeing the motion filed in the matter and noted that he had “nothing to do with the motion.”
Appeal court in May defended Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena for documents related to the January 6 attack. He was convicted in 2022 and was sentenced to 4 months of imprisonment.