Steve Bannon, a former ally of former US President Donald Trump, was convicted on Friday of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 uprising at the US Capitol.
Bannon, 68, was convicted after a four-day trial in federal court in Washington on two counts: one of refusing to appear for a deposition and the other of refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. The jury of eight men and four 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.
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.
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Prosecutors say Bannon ignored the deadlines
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 admitted on the stand that she is a lifelong Democrat and has been friends with one of the prosecutors for years. Corcoran also vaguely hinted that the signature of the Jan. 6 committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, appeared different on the subpoena than on other letters, but dropped that issue when the prosecution objected.
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. “That’s not hard. That’s not hard. There were only two witnesses because it’s as simple as it sounds.”
The defense asked for acquittal on Thursday, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case. Entering his acquittal motion before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, Corcoran said “no reasonable jury could conclude that Mr. Bannon refused to comply.”
After the motion was filed, the defense backed out without presenting any witnesses, telling Nichols that Bannon saw no point in testifying since the judge’s previous rulings had destroyed his planned avenues of defense. Among other things, Bannon’s team was barred from calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or members of the House panel as witnesses.