I’m going to prison but my podcast “War Room” won’t stop

Minutes before Steve Bannon reports to a federal penitentiary on Monday, he will record a final episode of his Crisis unit podcast – outside the Connecticut prison he will soon call home.

“We will do in the morning Crisis unit “I’m going to start on a Monday like everywhere else, but I’m going to do it outside of prison,” Bannon told The Daily Beast. “Then when I’m done, I’m going to drop the microphone and turn myself in.”

Once he is officially detained in Bureau of Prisons (BOP) No. 05635-509 at the low-security FCI Danbury, guest hosts will guard Crisis unit produce pro-MAGA messages and campaign for Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024.

The former Trump adviser, who was found in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol riots, had failed to persuade a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court to suspend his sentence.

In an interview with The Daily Beast on Sunday, Bannon, 70, appeared unfazed by his four-month prison sentence and portrayed himself as a MAGA martyr.

“It’s very simple,” said Bannon, who played a central role in planning the January 6 insurrection. “I’m a political prisoner because I have a very effective platform that reaches the common man. They hate it, they’ll do anything to stop it.”

“It doesn’t matter that I’m in prison,” he added. “The show will be bigger… They are making me a martyr. Steve Bannon is not. They are the ones who are doing too much. »

The former Trump strategist said he would be treated like any other prisoner and would not receive any “special treatment.” As a former Navy officer — Bannon served from 1976 to 1983, starting with the rank of lieutenant — he could be placed in a cell with other veterans, but that’s not a guarantee, he said.

“I’m just showing up tomorrow,” Bannon said. “Let’s go.”

Although he can’t operate his podcast from behind bars (doing so would violate prison rules about running a business), Bannon said he can give his opinion on the news of the day via Crisis unit or other media. He’s just not sure if he can call in to watch the shows.

About 20 different co-hosts, including right-wing politicians Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, are expected to host the evening. Crisis unit afloat under a detailed plan lasting several months until Bannon is free on November 1, just in time for the election.

He said the replacements also include conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, former Trump administration official Kash Patel, far-right lawyer Mike Davis, Senate candidate Royce White, former Fox commentator News Monica Crowley and Noor bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s niece who previously appeared on Bannon’s show.

The who’s who of Bannon’s world will also include Peter Navarro, another Trump adviser jailed for defying a House committee subpoena on Jan. 6, who is expected to contribute once he is released on July 17.

Crisis unit is broadcast four hours a day, five days a week (and two hours on Saturdays) from Bannon’s Capitol Hill residence, once known as the Breitbart embassy when Bannon ran its far-right website.

A 2023 study called it the main vector of misinformation; recurring topics include election denialism and attacks on the “deep state.” Recent podcast titles include “All Globalists Are Guilty,” “Tears of the Left,” and “Victory or Death.” At the same time, it has become a platform for ambitious MAGA Republicans seeking elected office.

“The public will not notice any difference in the intensity, the urgency, the topics we cover, the speakers,” Bannon told us. The personnel change will allow Bannon to focus on his goal of building a sustainable anti-establishment right-wing movement, rather than simply supporting Trump.

“We say to the public: it’s the next guy’s turn to take over,” he continued. “Trump won’t always be there. (The InfoWars Conspirator) Alex Jones is being liquidated. (Gateway Pundit Editor) Jim Hoft is bankrupt. Bannon is in prison. You can only count on yourself. »

Bannon said he requested access to Danbury Prison specifically as a “symbolic” gesture. The facility once housed Hollywood screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr., one of the few to have served time for contempt of Congress. A member of the “Hollywood Ten,” Lardner refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 about possible communist affiliations.

The Daily Beast asked the BOP whether Bannon calling into a radio show, particularly his own, would be forbidden. The agency does not comment on the conditions of detainees’ detention, but refers us to its policy which says: “Detainees may submit the telephone numbers of any person they choose, including the numbers of courts, elected officials and members medias. »

According to the Danbury FCI handbook, inmates can make 15-minute calls and are allotted up to 300 minutes per month, to 30 approved numbers, but the phones “will not be used to conduct any business.” So it’s up to prison officials to decide whether he can appear on his own show in 15-minute segments.

Bannon also faces a criminal trial in New York state in September for allegedly defrauding donors to the nonprofit’s “We Build the Wall” online fundraising campaign. He pleaded not guilty. Before leaving office, Trump pardoned Bannon for these crimes at the federal level.

Last week, Bannon urged Crisis unit “I don’t want you to take time to write a letter, I want you to get to work. It’s all about winning.”

For Bannon, this victory involves the re-election of former President Trump in November and the overthrow of the “Leviathan” of the federal government.

Since the disastrous debate between Biden and Trump last week, Bannon has been strategizing with GOP officials “24/7” on how to present the possible Democratic Party shift to a new candidate in the coming months as “toxic”.

It looks like the prison won’t stop its MAGA mission.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we will not have again,” Bannon said.