House Speaker Lauded for Supporting Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon praised House Speaker Mike Johnson for vowing Tuesday to file a legal brief in support of Bannon's emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to stay out of prison, Axios reported.

Bannon, former adviser to former President Donald Trump, is scheduled to report to prison by July to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena related to the  attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A federal appeals court last month upheld his conviction.

"Speaker Johnson and House leadership showed tremendous courage in repudiating the illegally constituted J6 Committee and its activities/investigations," Bannon, former adviser to former President Donald Trump, wrote in a text message to Axios.

Johnson, R-La., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., released a statement on the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) vote:

"The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted 3-2 to file a brief with the D.C. Circuit in the case against Steve Bannon. The amicus brief will be submitted after Bannon files a petition for rehearing en banc and will be in support of neither party. It will withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress. House Republican Leadership continues to believe Speaker Pelosi abused her authority when organizing the Select Committee.”

Bannon was found guilty in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress after he refused to be interviewed by the panel and divulge documents, The Hill reported. He is appealing the case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bannon was ordered to report to prison by July 1 for a four-month sentence, and he has filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to remain out of jail as he appeals his conviction, The Hill noted. 

Meanwhile, Johnson told Fox News that the GOP disagreed with how former Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled the panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans, and that it may have violated House rules.

Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected several GOP appointees to the panel and appointed Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., as its vice chair rather than a ranking member. 

• Steve Bannon Asks Supreme Court to Delay His 4-Month Prison Sentence
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