Turley: Bannon 'didn't put on a defense,' guilty verdict 'one of the most predictable convictions'

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Turley: Bannon 'didn't put on a defense'

Fox News contributor and George Washington University Law professor Jonathan Turley breaks down Friday's guilty verdict against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on 'America Reports.'

After Steve Bannon's conviction Friday afternoon, Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley broke down the verdict on ‘America Reports.'

JONATHAN TURLEY: Well, this was one of the most predictable convictions I've seen in my career as a legal analyst. I mean, the reason you could predict this outcome is very simple, that he didn't put on a defense, and he didn't show up to cover the Congress. He didn't present any witnesses. 

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And now he's going to go on appeal. Presumably, he'll have more to say there. But he did not have a viable defense. He was not a government official to even make a substantial claim of privilege. But also at the time, many of us said, you're making a huge mistake. 

You know, you should show up in Congress. You can always take your Fifth Amendment protections, the privilege against self-incrimination. Plenty of witnesses do that, but you should show up.

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He decided basically that he would thumb his nose at Congress and that he would go his own way. Well, you can and this is a very rare prosecution.

The last prosecution, I think, was in '83. The last conviction, as you noted, was long before that. It is unlikely that he's going to receive much, if any, jail time – the minimum is 30 days.

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The judge has some obvious discretion, particularly in allowing these to run concurrently, which is what I would expect. You know, he could send someone consecutively so they finish one sentence before they start the next sentence.

This is something that would normally be done concurrently. So any sentence runs at the same time.

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