Steve Bannon Charged with Congress Contempt
The indictment came as a result of Bannon's failure to comply in October with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee concerning the January 6 Capitol riots.
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Former White House chief strategist and Trump ally Steve Bannon
Former US President Donald Trump’s world just got shook, and his allies are taking note.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, has been indicted with two counts of contempt of Congress by a federal grand jury, following his failure to comply in October with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee. The committee is investigating the January 6 Capitol riots, in which hundreds of Trump supporters forced a suspension of Congress and delayed a joint session to announce that Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election. Trump and his team were accused of partially instigating or motivating the attack.
Banon evaded the subpoena in question since September by citing executive privilege, which did not sit well with the committee. The House of Representatives voted on charging the former strategist with contempt following the committee’s unanimous vote on the case, subsequently sending it to the Justice Department.
In turn, Banon was charged with failing to appear before the committee, and failing to present the requested documents, each of which bears a minimum sentence of 30 days, and a maximum of one year.
It is expected that this indictment would push other Trump allies to cooperate with the authorities after the committee in the US House of Representatives issued six new subpoenas on Monday. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien, former senior adviser Jason Miller, national executive assistant to the campaign Angela McCallum, and lawyer John Eastman are among the Trump associates who have been subpoenaed.
Furthermore, a US judge ruled on Tuesday that any White House records that could implicate the former president in the January 6 attack be released to a Congressional Committee. Trump sued in a failed attempt to halt the release of the documents, arguing that, as a former president, he retained executive privilege to keep the communications and visitor logs related to that day under seal.
It is notable that this is the first time the Justice Department has charged anyone with criminal contempt since 1983, which reveals the commitment of the current establishment to indict Trump and his team.
