Judge rejects second Steve Bannon effort to delay his contempt of Congress trial

July 14 (UPI) -- A federal judge Thursday denied former White House adviser Steve Bannon's request to delay his criminal contempt of Congress trial that's scheduled to start Monday.

D.C. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected a motion from Bannon to delay the trial after Bannon's lawyers argued pre-trial publicity could cause jurors to be prejudiced against Bannon.

"Mr. Bannon still in my view has not shown further delay" would be needed to seat an unbiased jury, Nichols said Thursday morning.

In a Wednesday court filing, Bannon had cited a CNN documentary about him that will premiere on Sunday, claiming that and the House hearings will taint the jury pool against him.

It was the second time Nichols had rejected a Bannon move to delay his trial. In the first request, the Bannon defense team argued that media coverage of the House January 6 Select Committee would hurt his right to a fair trial.

Bannon faces two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena seeking documents and testimony related to the Jan. 6, 2021, violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Bannon faces a minimum of 30 days and maximum of one year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine for each of the two counts against him if convicted.

The judge has yet to decide whether Bannon can use his recent effort to testify before the Jan. 6 committee as a defense in his trial. The judge previously ruled that Bannon could not argue his defense on the grounds of executive privilege.