Why Did Steve Bannon Go to Jail? About His Prison Sentence

Steve Bannon is a former advisor to Donald Trump and famous for his right-wing podcast, “Bannon’s War Room.” The 70-year-old was recently released from prison after he was subpoenaed by the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. So, why was Bannon sentenced to serve time in jail?

Learn more about Bannon and his prison sentence, below.

Who Is Steve Bannon?

Aside from being a political advisor to Trump and the host of his “War Room” podcast, Bannon worked in different fields. He served as a U.S. Naval officer from 1977 to 1983 and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. By the 1990s, Bannon landed a job with Biosphere 2 as its acting director of research. At the time, however, the Virginia native had also began executive producing a slew of films — a job he continued to do until 2016. That year, Bannon became the CEO of Trump’s campaign.

After Trump was elected president in 2016, Bannon was selected to be the Senior Counselor to the President. however, Bannon only served for Trump from January 2017 to August 2017.

Trump later spoke out about Bannon’s firing. According to the Florida Times-Union, the former host of The Apprentice said, “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

“Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party,” Trump said, according to the publication. “Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet, Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than 30 years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base — he’s only in it for himself.”

Why Did Steve Bannon Go to Jail?

Bannon served time behind bars at FCI Danbury in Connecticut from July 2024. Before surrendering himself to federal prison, a jury had found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress: one count for refusing to sit for a deposition with the January 6 House Committee and a second count for refusing to hand over documents related to his involvement in Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, according to the Associated Press.

The podcaster’s defense team asked a federal judge for an early prison release, arguing that Bannon’s case presented “compelling circumstances because of the subsequent developments discussed above – namely the realistic prospect that the D.C. Circuit will grant en banc or issue dissents from denial on the core issue in this case, either of which would demonstrate this case raises substantial issues and that Mr. Bannon should not have to serve his entire sentence before the en banc D.C. Circuit or Supreme Court can hear his case,” per CNN.

Was Steve Bannon Released From Prison?

Bannon was released from prison on October 29, 2024, after serving behind bars for four months. His release came amid the 2024 presidential election.