WASHINGTON — An appeals court on Thursday denied former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s request to stay out of jail while he appeals his conviction on contempt of Congress charges.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied Bannon’s request in a 2-1 ruling, with two judges deciding that the arguments in Bannon’s request do not pose a “substantial question of law.” which could be reversed. his belief.
“Bannon’s proposal — that to prove willful negligence, the government must show that the witness knew his conduct was unlawful — cannot be compatible with the Supreme Court’s approach to the statute,” Justices Cornelia’s order said Pillard and Bradley Garcia.
A third judge, Justin Walker, disagreed, writing that arguments about Bannon’s state of mind when he refused to comply with a House committee subpoena on Jan. 6 constituted a “negative question” that could be ruled in Bannon’s favor by the Supreme Court.
“That pointed question may well have been important during Bannon’s trial,” Walker wrote.
Bannon was ordered this month to report to prison on July 1. In previous filings with the D.C. Circuit, his attorneys have stated their intention to seek relief from the Supreme Court if the appeals court rules against them.
Bannon’s team filed the failed emergency motion on June 11, asking the federal appeals court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that he must report to prison in July.
Bannon’s attorney Trent McCotter did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
An attorney who previously represented Bannon, David Schoen, said he “left the case last Tuesday” after seeing the motion in question had been filed, saying he had “nothing to do with the motion.”
An appeals court in May upheld Bannon’s conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena for documents related to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was sentenced in 2022 four months in prison.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
