Ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon hits airwaves after prison release

A former Trump strategist who was jailed for defying a Congressional subpoena to testify about the January 6, 2021, riot 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 term 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 jailed, with President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and his Vice President Kamala Harris taking the Democratic nomination for president.

Now, with 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 told his podcast audience: “We’re going to deliver a knock-out blow” on November 5.

“I am more energised and more focused than I have ever been in my entire life,” added Bannon,  who described himself as having been a “political prisoner”.

He encouraged Trump supporters to “flat out get out the vote”, saying they need to score an election victory that goes his opponents’ “ability to steal it”.

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

Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress in July 2022, becoming only the second person in the last half-century to be jailed for rebuffing a congressional subpoena, after Trump’s former trade adviser, Peter Navarro.

‘Misinformation approach’

Madeline Peltz, Deputy Director for Rapid Response at the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters, said Bannon was skilled at using misinformation to push his right-wing agenda.

“Bannon is one of the most talented broadcasters among his peers, in terms of taking current events, pulling out a kernel of truth from them, and then spinning an elaborate conspiracy theory on top of it, which then becomes the fuel for the action that’s taken by the grassroots in response to these lies,”  Peltz told CNN.

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

Steve Bannon addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, February 24 [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

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 strategist in the White House in 2017 but left after just seven months, reportedly due to conflicts with other top staffers.

In 2020, he was charged with wire 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 sweeeping pardon to Bannon before leaving office, leading to the dismissal of the charges.

‘Post-election chaos’

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

If Trump loses the election again, Pelz from Media Matters anticipates that Bannon may amplify claims denying election results once more.

“I think, really, you’ll see it kick into high gear in the post-election chaos that we’re all sort of anticipating”, he told CNN.

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

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

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

Bannon still faces criminal charges in New York state court related to the alleged border wall fraud. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. A trial in that case is scheduled to begin in December.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies