Former Trump aide Bannon convicted of contempt for defying Jan. 6 subpoena

Steve Bannon, a former top advisor to US President Donald Trump and an influential right-wing figure, has been convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress by a federal jury.

The federal court in Washington issued the verdict on Friday months after Bannon defied a subpoena to answer questions from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on the US Capitol.

Bannon, who was present in the court, offered no defense in the case that featured testimony from just two government witnesses, including the deputy staff director of the committee leading the probe.

He provided no documents to the Democrat-led committee and failed to show up for a deposition last year, claiming he was barred from appearing because Trump had asserted executive privilege.

Prosecutors said the effort to politicize the case amounted to a smokescreen to puzzle the jury.

"The only person who is making this case about politics is the defendant and he is doing it to distract and confuse you," said Molly Gaston, assistant US attorney. "Don't let him."

“This case is not complicated, but it is important,” she said in closing arguments on Friday.

Gaston told the jury that the House committee wanted to ask Bannon about his presence at the Willard Hotel before the Jan. 6 insurrection and his statement the day before “all hell” was going to break loose.

But, she stated that the former White House chief strategist had disregarded the committee’s demands in order to protect his former boss.

“The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” Gaston said.

Kristin Amerling, the chief government witness, also told jurors the panel wanted to know more about Bannon's contacts with Trump, his presence with others at the Willard Hotel in early 2021, and his statement on the War Room podcast that "all hell is going to break loose" a day before the Capitol siege.

First Trump ally to face conviction 

The verdict came a day after Bannon’s video briefly appeared in a public hearing of the House committee, as investigators played a clip of him saying that Trump had planned to declare victory in the 2020 election, irrespective of the result.

Bannon becomes the first Trump aide to be convicted in the case. Another former Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, is scheduled to go on trial in November after defying a subpoena from the committee.

Bannon was indicted last November. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor crime, with each count punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and a maximum of 12 months in prison, according to New York Times.

"In short, Mr. Bannon appears to have played a multi-faceted role in the events of January 6th, and the American people are entitled to hear his first-hand testimony regarding his actions," said the House committee report while recommending a contempt resolution against him.  

In a written statement after the verdict on Friday, US Attorney Matthew Graves said Bannon had an “obligation to appear before the House Select Committee to give testimony and provide documents” and that his refusal to do so “was deliberate and now a jury has found that he must pay the consequences."

Bannon slammed members of the House Select Committee for conducting what he called a "show trial." He also vowed to appeal the verdict, saying the legal conflict was nowhere near complete.

"This is (a) bulletproof appeal," Bannon's attorney David Schoen told reporters. "Have you ever in another case seen a judge say six times in a case that he thinks the standard for willfulness is wrong? He's saying it doesn't comport with modern jurisprudence, he said it doesn't comport with the standard definition, but he is saying his hands were bound by a 1961 decision. You will see this case reversed on appeal."

Influential and controversial

Bannon was one of the most influential figures in Trump's White House, and was behind some of his most controversial moves, including his ban on some travelers from abroad and pulling the US out of the Paris climate change agreement.

After frequent clashes, including with Trump himself, Bannon was pushed out in August 2017, returning to Breitbart.

His participation in Michael Wolff's gossipy and damaging book "Fire and Fury" angered the president, who dubbed him "Sloppy Steve" and suggested he "cried when he got fired and begged for his job" -- but their relationship survived.

In 2020, he was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud over funds raised to build a wall on the border with Mexico -- a flagship Trump policy that the president had falsely promised would be paid for by the US's southern neighbor.

Trump pardoned Bannon -- who had pleaded not guilty to the fraud charge -- on his last day in office, two weeks after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's election victory.

On January 6 last year, unruly supporters of the former US president stormed Congress in a bid to thwart the certification of Joe Biden's election.

The Democratic-led investigation into the attack aims to show that Trump conspired to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

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