Steve Bannon was released from federal prison on Tuesday, officials said, emerging to take back the helm of a weakened right-wing media platform just a week before Election Day.
Bannon, a right-wing podcast host and chief executive of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, remains an ardent supporter of the former president.
Even when he reported to a federal prison in Connecticut in July, Bannon insisted he intended to influence the presidential election from behind bars and that his podcast “War Room” would continue to energize Trump’s base. .
While in prison, Mr. Bannon kept in touch digitally with a small group of supporters, including some who served as guest hosts on his podcast, two people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Bannon discussed some of the day’s news and politics, including topics he thought up for the show.
Bannon met his daughter Maureen early Tuesday morning. He will host a radio show later Tuesday.
He was convicted in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a subpoena from the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He continues to appeal his conviction.
While in prison, Bannon’s MAGA megaphone suffered in its absence. “War Room,” which appeared frequently on Apple’s top podcasts before Bannon was released from prison, had fallen off the charts by early July, according to PodChaser data. By another measure, the podcast was once near the top of Apple’s political podcast chart, but has since fallen outside the top 25, according to Podchaser data.
Mr. Bannon’s show is seen as primarily energizing Trump supporters, but nearly half of Mr. Bannon’s listeners are Republicans, while about a third of his listeners are 1 was non-partisan.
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CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed reporting.
This post has been updated with additional information.
