WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was convicted Friday of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising of the United States. Committee leaders called the verdict “a victory for the rule of law.”
Bannon, 68, was convicted after a four-day trial in federal court on two counts: one of refusing to appear for a deposition and the other of refusing to provide documents in response to the summons of the committee. The jury of 8 men and 4 women deliberated for just under three hours.
He faces two years in federal prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 21. Each charge carries a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail.
David Schoen, one of Bannon’s lawyers, said outside court that the verdict would not stand. “This is the first round,” Schoen said. “You will see this case reversed on appeal.”
Similarly, Bannon himself said: “We may have lost the battle here today; we will not lose this war”.
He thanked the jurors for their service and said he had only one disappointment: “and these are the foolish members of this trial committee, the J-6 committee did not have the courage to come here and testify.”
Prosecutors were just as adamant on the other side of the verdict.
“The subpoena to Stephen Bannon was not an invitation that could be refused or ignored,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a statement. “Mr. Bannon was required to appear before the House Select Committee to testify and provide documents. His refusal to do so was deliberate, and now a jury has found that he must pay the consequences.”
The committee sought testimony from Bannon about his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and Justice Department say that claim is dubious because Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was therefore a private citizen when he consulted with the then-president in the run-up to the unrest of the past January 6, 2021.
Bannon’s lawyers tried to argue during the trial that he did not refuse to cooperate and that the dates “were changing.” They pointed to the fact that Bannon had reversed course shortly before the start of the trial, after Trump dropped his objection, and had offered to testify before the committee.
In closing arguments Friday morning, both sides re-emphasized their main positions in the trial. The prosecution argued that Bannon deliberately ignored clear and explicit deadlines, and the defense claimed that Bannon believed those deadlines were flexible and subject to negotiation.
Bannon received a subpoena on September 23 last year ordering him to provide the requested documents to the committee by October 7 and appear in person by October 14. Bannon was indicted in November on two counts of contempt of Congress, one month apart. after the Justice Department received the referral from the House panel.
Bannon’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, told jurors in his closing arguments on Friday that those terms were mere “placeholders” while lawyers on each side negotiated the terms.
Corcoran said the committee “rushed to judgment” because it “wanted to make an example of Steve Bannon.”
Corcoran also suggested that the government’s main witness, Jan. 6 committee chief counsel Kristin Amerling, was personally biased. Amerling acknowledged on the stand that she is a lifelong Democrat and has been friends with one of the prosecutors for years.
Jan. 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was a particular target for Bannon and his defense team. His name came up several times during the trial, although U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols had warned the defense not to claim in court that the committee itself was politically biased. Bannon harshly criticized Thompson by name in his daily statements outside court, at one point implying that Thompson’s COVID-19 diagnosis last week was faked to avoid pressure to come forward.
Thompson and committee Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., praised the verdict in a statement, calling it “a victory for the rule of law and an important affirmation of the work of the select committee.”
“Just as all those responsible for the events of January 6 must be held accountable, anyone who obstructs our investigation into these matters should face the consequences,” they said. “No one is above the law.”
Prosecutors focused on the series of letters exchanged between the Jan. 6 committee and Bannon’s lawyers. The correspondence shows that Thompson immediately rejected Bannon’s claim that he was exempt from Trump’s executive privilege claim and explicitly threatened Bannon with criminal prosecution.
“The defense wants to make this difficult, difficult and confusing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn said in her closing statement. “This is not difficult. This is not difficult. There were only two witnesses because it is as simple as it seems.”
The defense asked for acquittal on Thursday, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case. In presenting his motion for acquittal before Judge Nichols, Bannon’s attorney, Corcoran, said that “no reasonable jury could conclude that Mr. Bannon refused to comply.”
After the motion was filed, the defense rested its case without presenting any witnesses, telling Nichols that Bannon saw no point in testifying since the judge’s previous rulings had destroyed his intended avenues of defense. Among other things, Bannon’s team was barred from asserting that Bannon believed he was protected by executive privilege or from calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or members of the House panel as witnesses.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo and Gary Fields contributed to this report.
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