Steve Bannon Reveals Thoughts Ahead of Looming Prison Stint

Steve Bannon, a MAGA media personality and ex-adviser to former President Donald Trump's administration, has insisted that he has no "fear" while preparing to serve a four-month federal prison sentence.

Bannon was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022 for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Earlier this month, a judge ordered him to report to serve his sentence at a federal prison on July 1.

While the status of Bannon's last-second attempt to stave off prison with an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is still up in the air, the former Trump adviser made it clear that the was ready for life as a self-proclaimed "political prisoner" in an interview published by Time magazine on Tuesday.

"I don't fear this at all... I'm a political prisoner," Bannon told Time's Eric Cortellessa. "I'm at war with the ruling class of this country... I've dedicated my life to this. I don't have a social life. This is my life."

Bannon went on to say that he would "have a lot to do" while behind bars and hoped to spend time in the prison library instead of working out, with the 70-year-old revealing that he would likely not "come out and be prison ripped" when his sentence ends.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the PR team of Bannon's War Room podcast via email on Tuesday evening.

Barring intervention from the Supreme Court, Bannon will begin serving his sentence next week after launching multiple appeals in the years since his conviction.

Last week, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shot down Bannon's most recent bid to delay his prison term until all of his appeals are fully exhausted, with one of the three appellate judges dissenting.

The court wrote in its decision that Bannon "provides no basis to conclude that a higher court is likely to upend" his conviction. Dissenting Judge Justing Walker, a Trump appointee, argued that Bannon should not serve time in prison before the Supreme Court decides whether to consider his "forthcoming petition."

Joey Jackson, a former New York state prosecutor and a legal analyst, told Newsweek earlier this month that Bannon's Supreme Court appeal was likely to fail because he would be unable to provide any "novel" argument for the court to consider.

"Steve Bannon, like any other person convicted of a crime, maintains all appellate rights allowed by law," Jackson said. "That stated, the merits of his appeal have already been heard by a federal appeals court—and rejected.... There simply is no novel claim for the full D.C. court to assess nor for the Supreme Court to entertain."