- A federal judge rules that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon must serve at least one month in prison for contempt of Congress.
- His lawyer argued that there is no minimum punishment for a contempt charge.
- The judge agreed with the prosecutors and said that the law’s language was “clear”.
US federal judge Carl Nichols said Friday that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon must serve at least one month in prison for his crime.
Nichols said that Bannon’s lawyer, David Schoen, was not able to persuade the judge that there is no minimum punishment for a contempt charge.
The former Trump aide was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress this summer. One was for refusing to testify in the investigation by the House January 6 committee, and the other was for not giving the committee the documents they asked for.
Bannon wants just probation, which the Justice Department said was “illegal” because the law says that the minimum sentence is one month and the maximum is one year per count.
After a short discussion of the problem, the judge agreed with the prosecutors and said that the law’s language was “clear.” In light of this, he also said that the rules for sentencing are one to six months.
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