Former White House adviser Steve Bannon sidestepped a direct question Tuesday night from NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo about whether he would accept the outcome of the midterm elections if Democrats come out on top.
The tense exchange unfolded during a town hall event on NewsNation, the sister network of The Hill, as Cuomo pressed Bannon on what he would do if Republicans lost key races.
“I want to ask you straight, here on the record,” Cuomo said before putting the question to Bannon: “Will you accept the results of the election?”
Bannon declined to give a yes or no answer.
“We have to first off — let’s have the election first,” he responded.
Later in the conversation, Bannon turned back to the 2020 presidential race, telling Cuomo that “they certified an illegitimate election in 2020.” The remark revived the unfounded claim that President Trump won that year’s election.
Cuomo quickly challenged him.
“Says who?” the NewsNation host pushed back.
Bannon then pointed to his own time behind bars.
“I went to prison for that,” Bannon said. “I’m proud I went to prison for that.”
Cuomo wasn’t buying it.
“You went to prison because you wouldn’t testify,” Cuomo replied. “That’s why you went to prison.”
Bannon fired back that his prison sentence was “about the 2020 election, Chris, thank you very much.” He added that he “wouldn’t bend the knee to Nancy Pelosi,” the Democratic congresswoman from California who formerly served as Speaker of the House.
“You wouldn’t bend the knee to democracy,” Cuomo shot back.
About two years ago, Bannon served a four-month prison sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The heated back-and-forth comes as Democrats appear positioned to make gains in both chambers of Congress in this year’s midterm elections.
Decision Desk HQ has forecast that Democrats will retake control of both the Senate and the House after the elections. According to that forecast, Democrats are projected to hold 51 seats in the Senate and 235 seats in the House.
With Election Day drawing closer, Trump and the GOP are navigating difficult political terrain. The president’s approval rating has been sagging, an unpopular war in Iran has dragged on for months, and voters have voiced notable concerns about the cost of living.
Those headwinds have put Republicans on the defensive as they work to hold onto their majorities heading into November.
For Bannon, a longtime ally of the president and a prominent voice in conservative media, the question of whether he would accept a Democratic victory remained unanswered by the end of the exchange. Rather than commit to accepting the results, he insisted the election needed to happen first, while continuing to stand by his view of the 2020 contest.
Cuomo, for his part, repeatedly challenged Bannon’s characterization of both the 2020 election and the reasons behind his prison sentence, setting up one of the more combative moments of the town hall.
[READ MORE: Trump Says Taiwan Will Buy 30% of Alaska Pipeline’s Gas for 20 Years]
