Steve Bannon, the one-time White House senior counselor to President Donald Trump and former executive chairman of Breitbart News, was released from custody Monday afternoon after he turned himself in following Friday’s indictment.

Upon leaving court, Bannon’s attorney told reporters that Judge Robin Meriweather set a hearing in the Washington, D.C. U.S. District Court on November 18.

“I’m never going to back down. They took on the wrong guy,” Bannon told reporters. “This is gonna be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden.”

“Joe Biden ordered Merrick Garland to prosecute me from the White House lawn when he got off Marine One,” Bannon claimed. “We’re tired of playing defense. We’re going to go on the offense on this,” against Joe Biden and the Chinese Communist Party.

Bannon also said before turning himself over to FBI agents that the populist movement is finding success with Hispanics and African Americans.

“We got the Hispanics coming on our side, African Americans coming on our side; we’re taking down the Biden regime,” he said.

“I don’t want anybody to take their eye off the ball of what we do every day,” Bannon continued. “This is all noise.”
Bannon was charged Friday on two counts of criminal contempt, the first for not appearing before Congress and the second for not turning over documents in reply to a congressional subpoena. Breitbart News previously reported:

News of the indictment demonstrates the Biden administration’s willingness to pursue former political rivals, opening up future administrations to possible prosecution.

Previous American presidential administrations have resisted investigating their former rivals, even after promising during an election to do, on the merits of protecting executive privilege.

If Bannon is convicted, he faces up to a $1,000 fine for each offense and a year in jail.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø