Steve Bannon asks appeals court to keep him out of prison due to his importance in Trump’s campaign

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Steve Bannon, the former Trump aide and far-right podcaster who was recently sentenced to prison, is asking a judge to intervene and keep him out of jail so that he can fulfill his “important” role in the Trump campaign.

Bannon filed an emergency motion to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, asking it to overturn a lower court’s order for him to report to prison on July 1.

He has asked for more time to appeal his contempt of Congress conviction - up to the Supreme Court if necessary - and continue serving as a “top advisor “to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

“The government seeks to imprison Mr Bannon for the four-month period leading up to the November election, when millions of Americans look to him for information on important campaign issues,” Bannon’s lawyer wrote.

“Yet from prison, Mr Bannon’s ability to participate in the campaign and comment on important matters of policy would be drastically curtailed, if not eliminated.”

Bannon has been ordered to report to prison on July 1 to serve his four-month sentence. In 2022, a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

Over the last two years, the rightwing firebrand has managed to avoid jail time while appealing the conviction. In May, his conviction was upheld and last week, a federal judge granted prosecutors’ motion to reverse the stay on his sentence.

Bannon has raged against the decision, claiming he will use all legal avenues available to appeal his conviction, including taking his case to the Supreme Court.

“There’s not a prison built or jail built that will shut me up,” Bannon said last week.

The former Trump administration advisor has baselessly claimed that his sentence is “about shutting down the MAGA movement” and “shutting down President Trump.”

His lawyers have asked the DC Circuit Court to rule on the motion by June 18 to give Bannon enough time to appeal to the highest court in the land.

They argue that the Supreme Court could be interested in taking his “landmark case” – citing the court’s recent ruling in ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro’s contempt of Congress sentencing.