Report: El Chapo Does Not Want to Share a Prison Cell With Steve Bannon, Tells DOJ Not to Think About Putting the Trump Ally With Him
The notorious drug kingpin of Sinaloa cartel Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman reportedly said that "under no circumstances" would he allow to share a prison cell with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who could soon be facing jail time for criminal contempt.
El Chapo said he was speaking "out of an abundance of caution," although he had not been told of any plans to house Bannon in the same cell as his, according to The New Yorker's The Borowitz Report.
El Chapo added that if the Department of Justice is looking for a place to look Bannon up, "don't even think about putting him in" with him. He said that it's not going to happen.
El Chapo is currently being locked up in a maximum-security penitentiary ADX Florence. The drug kingpin, who was also known for his prison breaks, said that he has tunneled out of prison before and he can do it again.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said he cannot say he blames El Chapo for his sentiments. Meanwhile, The Borowitz Report has always been identified as satire.
READ NEXT: Juarez Cartel Boss Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison by Mexico Judge
Steve Bannon Connecting to the January 6th Capitol Attack
The House select committee conducting the probe on the Capitol attack had unanimously voted on Tuesday to recommend the criminal prosecution of Bannon, who is the former chief strategist of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bannon had defied a subpoena regarding the committee's inquiry into the January 6 insurrection, according to The Guardian report. The select committee had also approved the contempt of Congress citation unanimously.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is the committee's chair, said that he expects that House will quickly adopt the referral to the Justice Department, as well as the prosecution of Bannon for criminal contempt of Congress. Thompson said that they won't take "no" for an answer.
The White House has reportedly sent a letter to Bannon's lawyer saying that he had no basis for his refusal to appear for a deposition.
U.S. President Joe Biden had already determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the public interest and is not justified. Legal experts say that Bannon's claim that his deposition is protected by executive privilege is dubious.
El Chapo Imprisonment
El Chapo had arrived at Administrative Maximum U.S. Penitentiary in Florence after he was sentenced two days earlier to life plus 30 years in prison.
He joins some of the nation's notorious offenders already at the prison such as Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, and 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef, according to a Denver Post report.
The Sinaloa leader smuggled out of a top-security Mexican prison in a laundry basket in 2001. He repeated his escape in 2015 when he slipped into an escape hatch beneath his shower in Altiplano prison in central Mexico.
Jeffrey Lichtman, one of Guzman's trial attorneys, said that Supermax conditions were more torture, adding that it's just "awful."
Even Robert Hood, a Supermax warden between 2002 and 2005, noted that the facility is not built for humanity. He said that being there day by day was worse than death.
READ MORE: El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel Continues to Thrive Despite the Drug Lord's Absence: Report
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Legal expert discusses Steve Bannon's strategy against Capitol attack committee - from CBS News
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!