Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon has been released from prison today after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Bannon, who is Trumps former chief strategist, left the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, this morning, according to CNN.
He is set to hold a news conference later in the day in Manhattan and is also expected to resume his podcast, War Room today.
The radio host and political agitator was Trumps campaign manager in the final stages of the 2016 election, having risen from his role at Breitbart to become one of the most influential right-wing voices.
Bannon joined Trump in the White House but fell out with him in spectacular fashion and turned on Trump, but was ultimately pardoned by the former president on the eve of his departure from the White House for loyally insisting that the election was stolen.
FILE - Steve Bannon appears in court in New York, Jan. 12, 2023. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)
US President Donald Trump (L) congratulates White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon, during the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017
Bannon reported to the prison on July 1 after the Supreme Court rejected his bid to delay the prison sentence while he appeals his conviction.
A jury found Bannon guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement Trumps efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
When he began serving his sentence in July, Bannon called himself a political prisoner.
I am proud of going to prison, he said at the time, adding that he was standing up Attorney General Merrick Garland and a corrupt Justice Department.
Trump, a Republican, is seeking to regain the presidency in next weeks election against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
teve Bannon, former advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives at the federal courthouse to find out if or when a judge will order him to jail on June 6, 2024 in Washington, DC
A federal appeals court panel upheld Bannons convictions in May.
Bannon is now asking the full appeals court to hear his case. His legal team had argued that the congressional subpoena was invalid because Trump had asserted executive privilege.
Prosecutors, though, say Bannon had left the White House years before and Trump had never invoked executive privilege in front of the committee.
He also faces additional criminal charges in New York state court, alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. A trial in that case is scheduled to begin in December.
His release comes after he was denied the option to leave prison early last week.
His lawyers had filed a request saying that he had accrued 10 days worth of First Step credits which meant he should have been released to home confinement on Saturday, October 19.
There is no reason for Mr. Bannon to remain in prison despite earning those credits, his lawyers say. The Court should grant Mr. Bannons motion and order him released immediately.
Judge Carl Nichols, sitting in Washington, D.C., issued his ruling Tuesday, writing, the Court concludes that the relief the Defendant seeks is not warranted.
His 193 Motion is therefore DENIED.