In a significant development, a federal appeals court has upheld the criminal conviction of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon had been sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The ruling came as a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of conviction and sentence on Friday. The panel concluded that the information sought in the trial subpoenas was not relevant to the contempt offense or any affirmative defense Bannon was entitled to present at trial.

Bannon's jail term had been put on hold pending the appeal, but now the sentence will be enforced. The former Trump White House adviser had been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500, significantly less than the $200,000 sought by the government.

Prosecutors had been seeking a six-month sentence for Bannon, while he could have faced up to two years in prison. They criticized Bannon's reasoning for defying the subpoena, stating that it had nothing to do with his purported respect for the Constitution or executive privilege, but rather stemmed from his personal disdain for the committee members and their investigation into the attack on the peaceful transfer of power.

It is worth noting that Bannon is also facing fraud charges in an unrelated trial connected to the "We Build the Wall" online fundraising campaign. The campaign was intended to raise funds for Trump's signature domestic project, but prosecutors allege that Bannon defrauded donors by falsely promising that none of the donated money would be used to pay the salary of Brian Kolfage, the president of "We Build the Wall." Allegedly, Bannon secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage through third-party entities.

Bannon has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, and his trial was originally scheduled for May. However, due to Judge Juan Merchan currently overseeing a separate trial involving hush money payments for Bannon's former boss, Donald Trump, the fraud trial has been postponed to a later date in the year.

With the appeals court's decision to uphold Bannon's conviction, it seems that former Trump associates are facing legal consequences for their actions related to the January 6 attack and other alleged offenses. The case against Bannon serves as a reminder of the ongoing efforts to hold those responsible for undermining the democratic processes accountable.