There was a time, not so long ago, when a criminal conviction meant serious trouble for anyone involved in politics.
That time is over. America’s political norms and values have been perverted, perhaps permanently, by politicians, aides and lawyers who now see criminal charges and public trials as nothing more than branding opportunities to be exploited.
For that, we have former President Donald Trump – now a convicted felon and the front-runner to win the presidency in November – to thank.
Just ask Trump’s most loyal propagandist, Steve Bannon, who is due to surrender at a federal prison in Connecticut on Monday.
Steven Bannon is part of what I call Trump’s Confederacy of Convicts
Trump often compares himself to another former Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who governed the country through the most tumultuous of times by empowering a “team of rivals,” aides who often didn’t agree with each other or the president but worked in the best interest of America.
Trump, of course, is nothing like Lincoln. But he has surrounded himself with a discredited crew – lawyers, strategists and propagandists – to help tear down the institutions, norms and standards that constrain politicians like him.
Let’s call them the Confederacy of Convicts.
The Supreme Court was brought in to settle the matter
Bannon – a former top Trump campaign aide and White House strategist – must serve a four-month sentence after being convicted in October 2022 on two criminal counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the U.S. House Select Committee that investigated the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected his last-ditch effort to delay accountability.
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To hear Bannon tell it, his sentence is starting 619 days after his conviction because it was timed to fall in the thick of a presidential election when he would be needed to help Trump. The part Bannon leaves out is that the long delay was caused by his frantic attempts to avoid being held responsible.
Speaking Thursday on his podcast and Internet television show War Room, Bannon blamed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a “reign of terror” for appointing that committee. He seemed resigned to time behind bars while also exhilarated that Republican leaders in the House are rallying to his cause.
Republicans tried to save Bannon from accountability
Remember law-and-order Republicans. Those days are over, too. At least for now.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, along with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on Wednesday pledged to spend American tax dollars to file a brief after Bannon’s expected request for yet another hearing at the D.C. Court of Appeals.
That court last week gave Bannon until July 15 to file his request, which will come after his deadline to report to prison.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday noted in court filings that another former Trump aide, Peter Navarro, had been convicted of contempt of Congress for dodging a Select Committee subpoena and has been serving a four-month sentence since March. The Supreme Court turned away Navarro as well in April.
Bannon, broadcasting War Room on Friday, aired clips of fired Fox News anchor-turned-web broadcaster Tucker Carlson claiming that Bannon’s case is an example of President Joe Biden’s administration “using jail as a political instrument.”
That’s deflecting nonsense. Maybe Bannon will finally get held accountable this time.
Remember that Trump pardoned Bannon
He’s slipped away before. Trump, on his last day in office, pardoned Bannon on federal charges in a case that had not gone to trial. He had been accused of pocketing money raised for the nonprofit “We Build The Wall,” allegedly to help construct a wall along America’s southern border.
Prosecutors said Bannon and his codefendants, who were not pardoned and were convicted in 2023, spent the money on themselves instead.
Trump’s January 2021 announcement of Bannon’s pardon called him “an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen.”
He certainly has an acumen for avoiding accountability. But can he keep it up?
Bannon has more legal problems to keep him busy
Let’s say Bannon does his full four months. Navarro reported to prison in mid-March and the Federal Bureau of Prisons lists his release date as mid-July, the full four months.
That would put Bannon back on the street just four days before November’s general election. But he’ll have other things to worry about.
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Bannon was indicted in a joint state and local New York case in September 2022 on charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud for the We Build The Wall fundraising scam. That trial is set for Sept. 23, more than a month before Bannon would be due for release from prison.
And not even a reelected President Trump can pardon Bannon on state charges if he is convicted.
Trump is who his friends are
Bannon is just one of the many Trump minions still struggling to avoid accountability. Some received last-minute pardons, like Bannon. Others face criminal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.
A bunch of Trump’s attorneys are in the process of being disbarred or having their law licenses suspended. Three of them have already pleaded guilty to charges in Georgia.
I tried to tally all the Trump folks facing criminal charges. I found a baker’s dozen. I probably missed a few.
Politicians are who they surround themselves with. Trump still faces criminal trials in three other venues. No wonder he is so fond of people who try to tear down institutions and disable the rule of law when convenient.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan
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