This year had seemed to offer Mr. Bannon his best hope yet at public redemption. He began hosting a podcast focused on the health and economic hazards of the coronavirus from the basement of the Capitol Hill townhouse where he once ran Breitbart. “War Room: Pandemic” attracted sponsorships from top-tier advertisers like Oracle and was picked up by Newsmax TV, which airs a video feed of it at 11 p.m. five nights a week. Mr. Bannon hosted Mr. Guo for one episode.
Mr. Bannon has told friends recently that Mr. Trump has told others that he watches the program and that the president was familiar enough with it to cite specific interviews he had seen when the two men spoke this summer. Mr. Trump, who has periodically asked advisers for Mr. Bannon’s opinion about different issues, insisted on Thursday after the arrest that he had not dealt with Mr. Bannon in some time.
It was unclear whether Mr. Bannon had any information to offer prosecutors in any plea deal to avoid prison time. He has been caught up in the swirl of investigations into Mr. Trump and his administration, and questions have emerged about whether he was forthcoming about ties between Russia and Mr. Trump’s transition team.
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