Salon: Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison — and this time Trump can’t pardon him

ormer Trump aide Steve Bannon was sentenced Friday to four months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $6,500 fine for contempt of Congress charges stemming from his defiance of a subpoena issued by the House January 6 committee.

The sentence amounts to less than the six-month prison term and $200,000 fine that the U.S. Department of Justice recommended.

Carl Nichols, the U.S. district court judge presiding over the case, said he would suspend the sentence if Bannon appeals, a move that could allow him to avoid prison for months.

“No American is above the law, including former presidents and their advisers,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, said in a statement. “Steve Bannon learned that today through a jail sentence and a fine for defying a subpoena from the January 6th Committee.”

“It is imperative that Congress have subpoena power with teeth in order to fulfill its oversight and investigatory responsibilities,” Scherb added. “If individuals could defy congressional subpoenas with impunity, our system of checks and balances would break down.”