UPDATE - Trump ally Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was sentenced on Friday to four months in prison following his conviction on two contempt of Congress charges.

Bannon, 68, was found guilty in July of contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the US Congress. He faced one count for failing to testify, and another for refusing to hand over requested documents.

District Judge Carl Nichols said Bannon did not have to serve his sentence immediately, and would be allowed to remain free while his appeals play out in court. He also instituted a fine of $6,500 fine.

Prosecutors had sought a six month jail term, saying Bannon "pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt" during legal proceedings.

Bannon's attorneys had asked for probation instead of prison time, and said after Nichols handed down his sentence that the decision to allow for a stay was "extraordinary," and the "appropriate move."

Bannon separately said that his team would launch a "very vigorous appeals process," adding "there's gonna have judgment on the illegitimate Biden regime" on Nov. 8 when Americans will vote in midterm elections.

"We know which way that's going," he said among repeated shouting from raucous hecklers. "This is democracy. The American people are weighing and measuring what went on with the Justice Department and how they comported themselves. They're weighing and measuring that right now and they will vote on Nov. 8."

The House committee sought to interview Bannon about meetings he participated in at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021, the night before Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent President Joe Biden from assuming office.

The Willard, which is blocks from the White House, was allegedly the scene of Trump's "War Room" where the former president's loyalists worked around the clock to come up with strategies to overturn the November 2020 election, which Trump lost by more than 7 million votes.