Poll: 82% of Likely Voters Oppose Political Prosecution of Steve Bannon, James O'Keefe

A majority of likely voters oppose the FBI and DOJ’s political prosecution of Steve Bannon and James O’Keefe, a Rasmussen Reports poll found Thursday.

“Have the FBI and the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) become political weapons against President Joe Biden’s opponents?” the poll asked.

Overall, 82 percent of voters said it is “important” the FBI and DOJ avoid prosecuting the opponents of the Biden-Harris administration, with 64 percent saying it is “very important,” and 9 percent said it is not important.

More than half of registered voters believe the FBI and DOJ are going after Bannon and O’Keefe for politically motivated reasons (55 percent Bannon, 52 percent O’Keefe).

Among moderates, 47 percent think Bannon’s prosecution is politically motivated, while 49 percent believe the same for O’Keefe.

Seventy-six percent of Republicans believe Bannon’s prosecution is politically motivated, while 35 percent of Democrats believe the same. Regarding O’Keefe, 67 percent believe his prosecution is politically motivated, and 38 percent of Democrats believe that.

James O’Keefe (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former White House senior counselor to President Donald Trump and one-time executive chairman of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, is under DOJ prosecution for failing to turn over subpoenaed documents and appear before the partisan January 6 congressional committee.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

In Bannon’s presumable effort to draw out the case and fight back, his lawyers reportedly asked U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols on Thursday to delay the case until 2022.

The judge denied the request “but said he’s not convinced yet that the Justice Department’s timetable is realistic either,” Politico reported. The next hearing is set for December 7.

If Bannon is fully convicted, he reportedly could spend a year in prison and receive a fine of up to $100,000.

Meanwhile, James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, an investigative media organization, has been a target of the FBI.

O’Keefe was reportedly handcuffed Saturday outside his New York apartment while FBI agents raided his home in a reported search for evidence about an alleged diary of Ashley Biden, Biden’s daughter.

The FBI reportedly seized two cell phones Saturday in relation to an investigation.

“Project Veritas says it was given the diary by two individuals last year and chose not to publish it because its authenticity couldn’t be verified, then handed it over to law enforcement,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The diary was later published by an obscure website.”

Upon obtaining the diary, Project Veritas alleged the diary was not stolen. The Journal reports it is “settled law that it’s not a crime for journalists to publish information that was obtained unlawfully.”

The Rasmussen Reports poll sampled 1,000 likely voters from November 16-17; the poll has a margin of error of three percentage points.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases