October 21, 2022

Blowhard Bannon's belligerent bluster begs bighouse stay

 By Hal Brown

Bannon get the Blues

Just announced: Bannon will get four months in prison and minor $6500 fine but can stay out of prison while he appeals and this could take a year.

It is being reported that his appeal will rely on his claiming he relied on an a "advice of counsel" defense. 

First his lawyer spoke and said they had a "bulletproof" appeal.


Then Bannon took to the microphone and made a diatribe. He lambasted the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi. He said the Biden regime will end after the election and Merrick Garland will be the first attorney general to be brought up on charges and impeached.


My impression of Bannon's affect and demeanor belied what his words were saying. He seemed far more subdued than usual. He claimed he'd win an appeal but he isn't delusional. He knows that the chances of winning the appeal are slim despite what his lawyer said and down the road there is a very good chance he will spend time in jail. 

Where would be held if he was indicted? 

"Since contempt of Congress is a federal misdemeanor being prosecuted in DC, White suggested that Bannon would be held in the DC Jail for lockup. The jail holds inmates who either have been sentenced for a misdemeanor, or are awaiting trial. However, depending on space and other factors, the Bureau of Prisons could decide to send him to another minimum security lockup outside of the District." Reference.
It's obvious that the accommodations are a far cry from what he's used to. Four months isn't four years. It isn't even a year. He might even get time off for good behavior. Still, any time spent living in a cell and having to comply with orders from prison guards will be a new experience for Bannon.
This is where Bannon lived in Washington:
It isn't a mansion but obviously non-too-shabby compared to the DC slammer.

Remember this Steve Bannon form November 16, 2021?
This is an explanation of why this conviction and sentence matters from CNN:

It was a victory for the House Jan. 6 select committee as it continues to seek the cooperation of reluctant witnesses in its historic investigation. It was also a victory for the Justice Department, which is under intense scrutiny for its approach to matters related to the Jan. 6 attack.

Bannon is one of two uncooperative Jan. 6 committee witnesses to be charged so far by the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was indicted by a grand jury last month for not complying with a committee subpoena and has pleaded not guilty.



Backing up:

Lot's on news when I started watching TV this morning about how much jail time Steve Bannon will serve this morning. Below is Bannon expressing his usual defiance before entering court this morning:



I was looking forward to seeing his being led out the the courthouse in cuffs to the Department of Corrections paddy wagon. Unfortunately because this is a misdemeanor he won't be taken into custody immediately. Rather he'd be given a date when and where he has to surrender to the authorities.

Bannon lost this Hail Mary Mother of Me pass (below):


Then there's this from the Above The Law website:

The subtitle says it all: Good luck, buddy.

In preparation for Steve Bannon’s sentencing hearing Friday, he and the government both submitted sentencing recommendations today. Unsurprisingly, they have very different thoughts on what should happen to the rightwing podcaster after a jury found him guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for documents and testimony from the January 6 Select Committee.

Prosecutors suggest six months in the hoosegow plus a $200,000 fine, emphasizing that Bannon has “consistently acted in bad faith and with the purpose of frustrating the Committee’s work.”

Here's more from this article:

Perhaps cognizant that promising to go “medieval” on his opponents and describing Judge Carl J. Nichols as conducting “the Moscow show trial of the 1930s” does not necessarily bespeak chastened regret, Bannon’s brief exhorts the court to look beyond the law and dream big.

The ear of a sentencing judge listens for the note of contrition. Someone was convicted. Did they learn their lesson? This case requires something more. It involves larger themes that are important to every American. Should a person be jailed when the caselaw which sets forth the elements of the crime is outdated? Should a person be jailed for the doing the exact same thing that was done by the highest law enforcement officers in this country, yet they received no punishment?

Bannon seems to be both threatening the judge and daring him to do something about it. It doesn't seem to be an indication that he is thinking rationally. The judge ultimately will decide his sentence. 

I am hoping he gets the full six months that the prosecution is asking for. 

We should know soon. Currently this is what is on MSNBC with report that the outcome will be announced any.moment.



1 comment:

Ben Kalom said...

Great piece.
Former law enforcement, Hal? Do you recognize in Mr. Bannon, all those elements of the folks that had to picked up in a squad for drunk and disorderly, or creating a public nuisance?
My one and only diversion for an unruly passenger resulted in a lot of paperwork and interviews for me, but only a night in a town pokey for the perp.
My copilot wanted to go back and get involved, and I had to remind him that the rest of the passengers needed him intact, not maimed by someone waking up in an airplane after a sotted adventure, locating himself in a metal tube, next to a total stranger, and beginning to hit people.
Bannon is a drunk. Sorry, I'm therapeutic and all, I have empathy, but he is an unremorseful drunk. He has a history of violence. He has a history of being a "bad boy." He needs to spend serious time, not just an overnight drying out, fully away from the good life and all it affords. I have zero tolerance for the willfulness and intentional chaos he keeps throwing about.
His fate? What would be best is something very much like what's happened to Mr. Jones. It should cost him EVERYTHING he has.
Let him go live under a viaduct or an overpass - he seems to find that form of living a desirable place to be. Provide him with a supply of 50/50 or Colt 45 Malt, whatever the current iteration of cheap alcohol is, and let him count out the final hours of his life sleeping in a cardboard house.
He's a shining example of a life that might have held great promise, but for wounds he will not acknowledge and that he keeps ripping at, keeps shaking his fists heavenwards, yelling in H.G. Robinson style, "You'll never catch me copper..."
As usual, I digress. Great article!

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