CNN
—
Steve Bannon was released from federal prison on Tuesday, retaking leadership of his fragile right-wing media base a week before Election Day, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Bannon, a right-wing podcast host and chief executive of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has been a staunch supporter of the former president. Even as he reported to a federal prison in Connecticut in July, Bannon insisted he would influence the presidential race from behind bars and that his “War Room” podcast would continue to energize the Trump base.
Bannon was visited by his daughter Maureen early Tuesday morning. He is expected to host his radio show on Tuesday morning.
On January 6, 2021, he was convicted in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the US capital. He continues to appeal his conviction.
While in prison, Bannon remained in digital contact with a small group of followers, including some who served as guest hosts for a podcast, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Bannon would discuss politics, including the news of the day and topics he thought up for the show.
However, Bannon’s MAGA megaphone suffered in his absence. “War Room,” which had appeared frequently among Apple’s top podcasts before Bannon’s incarceration, fell off the charts in early July, according to data from Potchaser. By another measure, the podcast was once near the top of Apple’s political podcast rankings and has since fallen out of the top 25, according to Podchaser data.
There are some signs that Pannon is picking up steam as it prepares to return.
“While we still see disaffected activists as a central focus, you see the ‘war room’ couldn’t sustain itself without Bannon,” said Madeline Peltz, deputy director of rapid response. Media Matters, a progressive nonprofit that conducts comprehensive media monitoring.
Peltz still predicts that Bannon will be a key voice of dissent if Trump appears to prevail after Election Day.
“I think it’s going to take some time to bring the audience back and mobilize them,” Peltz said. “I don’t think a week between now and the election is enough time to finish it, but really, I think you’ll see it kick into high gear in the post-election chaos that we’re all kind of in. I expect.”
Although Bannon’s show is seen mainly as an energizer for the Trump base, data from Edison Research’s podcast metrics show that nearly half of Bannon’s audience is made up of Republicans, but a third of listeners are independents.
On the “War Room” podcast, a cast of fill-in hosts cheered Bannon’s arrival.
Famous election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell offered a deal on his MyPillow products to celebrate Bannon’s release (free pillows, plus shipping and handling, associated discount code.)
“It’s only 24 hours before Stephen K. Bannon comes back as a free man and preaches MAGA’s gospel in the ‘war room,'” Natalie Winters, one of the podcast’s guest hosts, said Monday.
Winters turned his attention to the presidential election, saying, “It’s not an election, it’s a ballot battle.” It’s the incendiary rhetoric that Bannon embraced and promoted as the opening voice of the “Stop the Steel” movement in 2020.
In May, Bannon said on his podcast that they were “going to do everything to steal this election,” as he reiterated his baseless claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
“Bannon is one of the most adept broadcasters among his peers at taking current events, extracting a kernel of truth from them, and spinning an elaborate conspiracy theory on top of it. It’s taken by the grassroots in response to these lies,” said Peltz from Media Matters. There’s no one with the level of talent.”
Bannon’s team said it plans to hold a press conference in New York on Tuesday afternoon to mark his release.
This story has been updated with additional updates.
CNN Kristen Holmes, Maria Aguilar Brito and Maria Sol Gambinotti contributed to this report.
