Steve Bannon moves to overturn contempt of Congress conviction over Jan. 6 subpoena

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will appear in court on Thursday seeking to overturn his contempt of Congress conviction and avoid spending four months in prison.

A jury found Bannon guilty in July of last year for failing to comply with two subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 Committee. He was sentenced to four months in prison that October and was further ordered to pay a $6,500 fine.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols suspended the sentence, pending appeal, and he has remained free in the interim. His attorneys have argued that he ought to have been protected by executive privilege, but that the court had improperly barred him from making that defense, among a litany of other arguments.

"The lower court erred by prohibiting Mr. Bannon from putting his defenses before the jury in this case, in violation of his rights under the 5th and 6th Amendments to the United States Constitution," attorney David Schoen wrote in a court brief, according to NBC News.

"Bannon was barred from putting on any evidence or argument that he believed he responded to the subpoena in the only way the law permitted once executive privilege was invoked, and that he acted in the manner his experienced lawyer directed him that he had to act as a matter of law."

Bannon currently hosts the "War Room" program on the Real America's Voice Network. Prior to his work at the White House, he served as the executive chairman of Breitbart News.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.