Steve Bannon feels ’empowered’ after four months in federal prison

Steve Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and former political adviser to former President Donald Trump, was released from federal prison Tuesday morning after serving four months behind bars for contempt of Congress.

Bannon was convicted in 2022 on two counts of defying subpoenas from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. He left prison a week before Election Day, as Trump and Vice President Harris deliver their respective closing messages in a close race for the White House.

Just hours after his release, Bannon returned to host a new episode of his daily podcast, “War Room.” Dressed in a black shirt and with his gray hair slicked back, Bannon falsely claimed former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent him to federal prison as a political prisoner “to quell the power of this show and to break me. “

“Four months in federal prison didn’t break me. It strengthened me,” Bannon told his online audience. “I’m more energized and more focused than I’ve been in my entire life.”

Bannon echoed the bogus argument of other Republicans, including Trump, who accuse Democrats of weaponizing the Justice Department and the judicial system against members of the party.

Bannon served his four-month sentence at the federal lockup in Danbury, Conn. Another former Trump aide, Peter Navarroalso served four months in prison after being convicted of the same charges.

A number of people filled the “War Room” podcast while Bannon was in prison. He marked his return to the podcast with a fiery message to Trump’s supporters ahead of Election Day, telling them, “This is a fight not just for the direction of this country, but what this country stands for.”

Democrats, Bannon argued, “have no intention of giving up power.”

Trump’s supporters in Congress have also leveled accusations of politicization against the Justice Department, pointing to the two federal indictments filed against the former president for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election and for hoarding secret documents.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied the allegations. In recent years, the department has twice indicted President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on gun and tax crimes; charged two Democratic members of Congress with corruption; indicted the Democratic mayor of New York City on corruption charges; and investigated the president himself over his handling of classified documents after his vice presidency.

At a news conference later in the day, Bannon said his immediate focus is getting Trump supporters to the polls before and on Nov. 5 and on ensuring “election integrity.”

“My focus is on the win next Tuesday and the biggest possible number, because guys: don’t think it will end on Tuesday,” he said. “It’s going to take a while to fix this.”

That said, Bannon accused the Harris campaign of preparing for a possibly contentious legal battle after Election Day. He omitted that the Trump campaign is making similar preparations.