Former Trump White House official and War Room podcast host Steve Bannon said he is “far from broken” upon his release from federal prison Tuesday.
Bannon said he is “sharper today and in better shape” after serving a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena. He thanked the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury for giving him a rewarding opportunity of teaching civics and government classes to fellow inmates.
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“I can report to you that these young men, most of whom are nonviolent drug offenders, that have, quite frankly, a lot of years in prison, these people came to this with a new awakening, and that is the awakening the American people are going through,” Bannon said. “The system is not only broken, the system is rigged against the working class of this nation.”
“I’m far from broken,” Bannon added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to FCI Danbury to confirm Bannon’s claims of teaching within Danbury’s education department. He said he had close to 100 students in three different classes, with most of the attendees Hispanic and black men.
According to the Independent, Bannon taught his class every Tuesday while in prison and would ask his students who they thought would win the election.
Most said former President Donald Trump, but some expressed concerns regarding whether the former president would deploy the army against U.S. citizens — a comment relating to Trump’s recent remarks that chaos would arise from “the enemy from within,” adding that it “should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
Bannon’s release comes just a week before Election Day. The War Room podcast host served as Trump’s chief strategist for the first seven months of the administration.
He was convicted in 2022 for failing to comply with a subpoena from the now-dissolved House select committee on the riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The committee’s subpoena required him to appear for a deposition and produce requested documents, but he refused.
“I’m finally out of being a political prisoner by the Merrick Garland-Kamala Harris-Nancy Pelosi regime, OK, for standing up for my political beliefs against an illegitimate committee in the House that did not have a ranking member and did not have minority counsel,” Bannon said.
Bannon railed against the justice system for prosecuting political figures following Trump’s indictment in four criminal cases. The former president was found guilty in a New York hush money case in May, with his sentencing scheduled for after the 2024 election.
A classified documents case against the former president was thrown out by a Florida judge in July, with special counsel Jack Smith appealing the decision. Trump still faces two court cases, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Georgia, stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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“I am proud, proud that I went as a political prisoner to Danbury prison,” Bannon said. “I served my country on a Navy destroyer in my 20s, and I served my country in a federal prison in my 70s.
“If you’re not prepared to be thrown in prison by this weaponized Justice Department, then you’re not prepared to stand up and fight for your country, and I will never back down from that,” he added.