Steve Bannon was released from prison after serving a sentence for contempt of Congress

WASHINGTON — The last time Steve Bannon was a free man, Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Bannon, the right-wing podcast host and former Donald Trump campaign aide, was released from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody on Tuesday. There is exactly a week left until voters decide between his former boss and Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.

Randilee Giamusso, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, confirmed that Bannon was released.

Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022 for defying House committee subpoenas on January 6. However, he managed to avoid the imposition of the sentence for almost two years by filing an appeal. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols — himself a Trump appointee — ordered Bannon in June to report to prison by July 1.

Bannon was convicted in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol sparked by Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

“The defendant chose loyalty to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” a Justice Department prosecutor told jurors at trial, adding that Bannon “disrespected Congress,” which wanted to find out “why January 6 happened and how.” “You make it.” Surely that will never happen again.”

Bannon hosts a podcast called “Bannon’s War Room,” which has a large following on the right and often features guests who downplay the Jan. 6 attack. Before beginning his sentence, he said he was “proud” to be going to prison and falsely told NBC News that there was “no chance” Democrats could win the upcoming election unless ” they steal them.”

Trump himself faces four criminal charges in connection with his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He has pleaded not guilty. A federal grand jury indictment alleges that Trump knowingly used a campaign of “unsupported, objectively unreasonable and constantly changing” false claims of voter fraud to attempt to change the outcome of the election after his defeat.

Bannon, a 70-year-old white man with inmate number 05635-509, was serving his time at FCI Danbury, a low-security federal correctional facility in Connecticut.

Just days after Bannon was sent to prison, Biden announced his decision to drop out of the race and Harris became the Democratic nominee.

Bannon had not served in the White House for years when he was subpoenaed by the committee on January 6, but he still tried to claim executive privilege to avoid it. In the eleventh hour before his trial for contempt of Congress, Bannon said he was willing to testify before the committee. The Justice Department described the move as a “last-ditch attempt to evade responsibility.” A jury ultimately convicted him and the convictions were upheld on appeal.

Peter Navarro, a former White House official, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and also served a four-month prison sentence. He was released in the middle of the Republican National Convention in August and received a hero’s welcome at the RNC.