Ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon hits the airwaves after prison release | Donald Trump News

A former Trump strategist who was jailed for defying a congressional subpoena to testify about the January 6, 2021 riots at the United States Capitol has been released from prison.

Steve Bannon, 70, a right-wing media executive and ex-Trump strategist, completed his four-month prison sentence early Tuesday for contempt of Congress.

Speaking to followers on his “War Room” podcast shortly after his release, Bannon said: “I’m not broken, I’m empowered”.

Much has changed in the four months since Bannon was imprisoned, with President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and his Vice President Kamala Harris taking the Democratic nomination for president.

Now, just a week before Election Day, Bannon is using his influence and media savvy to rally the Republican presidential candidate’s die-hard base.

While Bannon no longer works for Trump, he is turning to “The War Room” to champion his message. Bannon appeared again on the show Tuesday morning and said “We’re going to deliver a knock-out punch” on November 5th.

“I’m more energized and more focused than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” added Bannon, who described himself as a “political prisoner.”

He urged Trump supporters to “flush out of the polls” and said they need to score an electoral victory beyond his opponents’ “ability to steal it”.

Later Tuesday afternoon, Bannon plans to hold a press conference in New York, he said on the podcast.

‘Misinformation approach’

Madeline Peltz, deputy director of rapid response at left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters, said Bannon was adept at using disinformation to push his right-wing agenda.

“Bannon is one of the most talented broadcasters among his peers at taking current events, extracting a kernel of truth from them, and then spinning an elaborate conspiracy theory on top of it, which then becomes the fuel for the act, that have been taken off the grassroots in response to these lies,” Peltztold CNN.

“There’s really no one who has the same level of talent for that particular disinformation approach.”

A decade before joining Trump’s 2016 campaign team, Bannon co-founded Breitbart News, which he saw as a “platform for the alt-right.” Bannon served as Trump’s chief White House strategist in 2017, but left after just seven months, reportedly due to conflicts with other top staffers.

In 2020, he was charged with fraud and money laundering for misappropriating millions of dollars contributed by donors for the construction of a border wall with Mexico.

While others were found guilty in the scheme, Trump issued a blanket pardon to Bannon before he left office, leading to the dismissal of the charges.

Bannon also faces criminal charges in New York state court alleging he provided money to build a wall along the US-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.

‘Chaos after the election’

In January 2021, Bannon used his influence to bolster Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The day before the attack on the capital on January 6, he warned “all hell will break loose tomorrow”.

If Trump loses the election again, Media Matters’ Pelz predicts that Bannon could ramp up allegations of denying election results once again.

“I really think you’re going to see it come to a head in the post-election chaos that we all expect,” he told CNN.

Despite his conviction, Bannon should be eligible to vote in New York, where he previously registered.

A New York law passed in 2021 restored the right to vote to a person convicted of a felony upon release from incarceration, regardless of whether they are on parole or have a period of post-release supervision.

Other states, such as Florida – where Bannon has also previously registered to vote – have rules that make it difficult for convicted felons to restore their constitutional right to vote.