Steve Bannon on His Time in Prison: ‘Gangbangers’ and ‘Blood Everywhere’
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon arrives at a press conference outside the federal correctional institution, on July 1, 2024 in Danbury, Connecticut. Former top Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon is expected to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
Steve Bannon wants to make one thing clear: He did his time in a brutal prison, not in a leisurely “camp like that p*ssy [Michael] Cohen.”
Bannon made that comment, and shared details about his four-month prison term for a forthcoming book from ABC Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl titled Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America; an excerpt from the book, set to be released on Oct. 28, was published by The Atlantic on Tuesday.
The man who helped President Donald Trump win the 2016 election described the Danbury, Connecticut federal prison he was in as a “rough” place — “a f*cking low-medium security [prison] with gangbangers and f*cking drugs and stabbings.”
Bannon said that soon after he arrived in July 2024, he saw several inmates “take a shiv out and f*cking rip a guy.” There was “blood everywhere,” he said.
But the last thing he would do is rat on his fellow inmates, he said, to the prison guards. When asked about the stabbing by a cop, Bannon said he kept his mouth shut.
“You answer any question a cop asks you, and you’re done,” he said.
Karl described Bannon as “eager” to talk about the friends he made in prison. “Murderers [and] f*ckin’ mob hitmen” were “my besties,” Bannon said.
The key MAGA influencer was released from prison in October 2024, after he had been convicted of defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.
Bannon described himself, as he was entering prison four months earlier, as a “political prisoner” who was fighting back against then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and his “corrupt” Justice Department.
He told Karl that one of his closest buddies in prison was Vito Guzzo, a reputed member of the Columbo crime family. Guzzo was serving a 38-year sentence after pleading guilty to five murders in 1998, but was released early in April.
When Guzzo was released from prison, his girlfriend sent Bannon a video of him walking out of Danbury; Bannon told Karl he was thoroughly impressed with his friend’s sharp look in the video.
“That guy is so impressive,” Bannon said. “Look at that guy’s tracksuit; look at the shoes; look at the hair.” He added Guzzo “walks out, totally precise. These guys amaze me.”
Bannon added prison gave him a better feel for the vibe of the U.S. — and helped him understand that Kamala Harris had no shot in the 2024 race. It also gave him insight on other political and social topics, including Americans getting locked up for drugs.
“You can actually get a sense of where the country is in prison,” Bannon said. “Every Hispanic and Black family in America has someone they know that’s incarcerated; that’s just the reality. It may not be their son, but it’s a cousin, or nephew, or a next-door neighbor. These mass incarcerations are out of control for nonviolent drug charges.”
