Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, sentenced to prison, free awaiting appeal

Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison for criminal contempt of Congress. The longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump was also ordered to pay a $6,500 fine.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said he’s prepared to let Bannon remain free while he appeals his convictions.

Bannon, 68, was sentenced in federal court in Washington Friday morning, after a jury found him guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the White House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors were seeking what they describe as a “severe” penalty: six months in jail and a fine of $200,000. In court papers earlier this week, they said Bannon pursued “a bad faith strategy of defiance and contempt.”

Bannon sat quietly and did not react as Judge Nichols delivered the sentence.