The federal appeals court has denied former Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s appeal of his conviction for contempt of Congress, clearing the way for his four-month jail sentence to begin. Bannon had defied a House subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee, which was formed to investigate the Capitol insurrection following Trump’s election loss in 2020. The committee had subpoenaed Bannon in September 2021 over his alleged role in the lead-up to the Capitol riot, but Bannon refused to comply, citing executive privilege.
Bannon had argued that he could not testify before the committee due to executive privilege and claimed his attorney advised him not to respond to the congressional subpoena. However, the three-judge federal Court of Appeals panel rejected that argument, upholding a lower court’s decision. In its ruling, the appeals court stated that Bannon “knew what the subpoena required but did not appear or provide a single document,” and that his “advice of counsel defense is no defense at all.”
Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen, plans to seek redress before the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals through a process called a rehearing en banc. He argued that Thursday’s ruling by the appeals court panel was “wrong as a matter of law” and reflected a dangerous view of the threshold for criminal liability for defendants in the country. Bannon also has the option of Supreme Court review, but the en banc route is considered more likely to succeed.
Trump appointed Bannon as an executive during his 2016 presidential campaign and later made him chief strategist in his administration. In the aftermath of Trump’s election loss to President Joe Biden, Bannon supported Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. The House Jan. 6 Committee accused Bannon of playing a key role in the lead-up to the Capitol riots by backing Trump’s unfounded claims and meeting with Trump allies ahead of the riot. Bannon was indicted in April 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress, and while prosecutors sought a six-month sentence, he was ultimately sentenced to four months and a $6,500 fine.
In addition to his contempt of Congress conviction, Bannon also faces other legal troubles. In September 2022, he was indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges in New York related to a fundraising effort for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon pleaded not guilty to those charges, and separate federal fraud charges related to the “We Build The Wall” fundraising campaign were dropped after Trump issued Bannon a presidential pardon. Despite his various legal challenges, Bannon has continued to be a controversial figure in American politics.
