I’m going to jail, but my War Room podcast won’t stop

In the minutes before Steve Bannon is sent to a federal prison on Monday, he will air one final episode of his War Room Podcast – outside the Connecticut prison he will soon call home.

“We make the morning War Room “I’m going to start a Monday like I do anywhere, but I’m going to do it outside of prison,” Bannon told The Daily Beast. “When I’m done, I’m going to drop the mic and add.”

Once he is officially the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate No. 05635-509 at the low-security FCI Danbury, the innkeepers War Room They spread pro-MAGA messages and campaign for Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024.

The former Trump adviser was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives’ investigative committee on the Capitol riots. He failed to convince a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court to suspend his sentence.

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Anadolu

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

“It’s very simple,” said Bannon, who played a central role in the run-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection. “I’m a political prisoner because I have a very successful platform that reaches the common man. They hate that and will do anything to stop it.”

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

The former Trump strategist said he will be treated like any other prisoner and will not receive “special treatment.” As a former Marine officer – Bannon served from 1976 to 1983 and left the Navy at the rank of lieutenant – he may be placed in a cell with other veterans, but that is not guaranteed, he said.

“I’ll just come over tomorrow,” Bannon said. “Let’s get started.”

Although he cannot run his podcast from behind bars (that would violate prison rules about running a business), Bannon said he can comment on the day’s news via War Room or other media. He’s just not sure if he could call into shows.

About 20 different co-moderators – including right-wing politicians Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert – are expected War Room as part of a months-long, detailed plan to keep Bannon afloat until he is released on November 1, just in time for the election.

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Aaron Ontiveros

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

The who’s who of Bannon’s world will include Peter Navarro, another Trump adviser who is imprisoned for defying a Jan. 6 subpoena from a House committee. He is expected to give his input once he is released on July 17.

War Room is broadcast four hours a day, five days a week (and two hours on Saturdays) from Bannon’s Capitol Hill residence, once nicknamed Breitbart Embassy when Bannon operated the right-wing extremist website from there.

A 2023 study named it one of the world’s biggest purveyors of misinformation, and regular topics include election denial 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 office.

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

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Drew Angerer

“We’re telling the audience: Next man up,” he continued. “Trump isn’t always going to be around. (InfoWars conspiracy theorist) Alex Jones is going to be liquidated. (Gateway Pundit editor) Jim Hoft is bankrupt. Bannon is in jail. They’ve got to rely on themselves.”

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

The Daily Beast asked the BOP whether Bannon’s call to a radio show, specifically his own, forbiddenThe agency does not comment on the conditions in which inmates are held, but referred us to its policy, which states: “Inmates may provide telephone numbers to anyone they wish, including courts, elected officials, and members of the news media.”

According to the FCI Danbury handbook, inmates are allowed 15-minute calls and are allotted up to 300 minutes per month, with 30 approved numbers, but the phones “will not be used for business purposes.” So whether he is allowed to appear in 15-minute segments on his own show is in the hands of prison officials.

Bannon also faces criminal charges in New York State in September for allegedly defrauding donors to the nonprofit online fundraising campaign We Build the Wall. He has pleaded not guilty. Before leaving office, Trump granted Bannon a federal pardon for these crimes.

Last week, Bannon called for War Room Fans should not write to him in prison and say: “I don’t want you to take the time to write a letter. I want you to get to work. This is all about winning.”

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

Since Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump last week, Bannon has been working around the clock with Republican officials to develop strategies on how to portray the Democratic Party’s possible switch to a new candidate in the coming months as “toxic.”

It seems that prison will not stop him from his MAGA mission.

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