A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) actually argued that former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon needs jail time because of what he said. 

The lawyer, according to Breitbart News, is Matthew Graves. He was appointed as a U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., by President Joe Biden.

The sentencing memo that he submitted to the judge has been released, and, as will be demonstrated, it shows that he tried to get Bannon more jail time - not for what he did - but for what he said.

In his first act as US Atty for DC, Biden appointee Matthew Graves indicted Steve Bannon for contempt.

This is what Graves wrote in DOJ sentencing memo asking for 6 months in prison and a $200,000 fine for the Honey Badger: pic.twitter.com/uDYBm7JJjr

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) June 6, 2024

What's going on?

You may or may not know that Bannon has been ordered to jail.

The Associate Press reports:

Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The outlet, of course, is referring to the highly partisan Jan. 6 committee that was supposed to investigate the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021, but, instead, spent all of its time trying to pin guilt on former President Donald Trump. To highlight its partisan nature, the committee was even caught, before it was disbanded, deleting evidence that was likely favorable to Trump.

Bannon refused to comply with the committee, which resulted in a contempt of Congress charge, and, eventually, a prison sentence.

Trump recently called Bannon's prison sentence "a total and complete American Tragedy."

The sentencing memo

What makes this situation even more absurd is the recent revelation that Graves tried to get Bannon more jail time because of what Bannon said.

Here's part of what Graves wrote:

Throughout this prosecution, as described above, the Defendant has leveraged his media platform to mock members of the Committee through offensive name calling, deride the Committee's investigation through rehtoric that risks inspiring violence, and ridicule the criminal justice system through hyperbole.

Graves goes on and on in this same vein, and, at the end, he asked for a 6-month prison sentence and a $200,000 fine for Bannon.

The judge ended up giving Bannon a 4-month sentence.

The fact that Graves, however, was trying to get Bannon imprisoned for criticizing the Biden administration says a lot about where we are at in this country. We really are rapidly becoming a banana republic.