Stephen Bannon Is One Step Closer to a Possible Year in Prison

Like many former advisers to Donald Trump, nearly a dozen of whom have been charged with crimes, Stephen Bannon is no stranger to legal troubles. In August 2020, he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, having allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of people who donated money to a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25 million to build the southern border wall. Luckily for Bannon, who pleaded not guilty to the scam, he had a friend in the White House, and on his last day in office, Trump pardoned him before his May 24 trial date. This time around, though, the former senior adviser, known for both wearing an excessive number of shirts and calling for Anthony Fauci to be beheaded, he no longer has friends in high places and may actually be held accountable for his actions.

On Thursday, the House voted 229 to 202 to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress, following his decision to ignore a subpoena from the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Like a number of other allies, Trump instructed Bannon to defy the request, though it appears that Bannon is the only one who has chosen to stonewall the committee, claiming, via his lawyer, that he is merely complying with Trump’s assertion of executive privilege. The problem, though, is that both the Biden administration and Congress have said Trump has no privilege to exert, and while the Trump administration might have gotten away with ignoring any and all requests from Congress back in the day, that’s not likely to fly anymore. Which means there’s a very real possibility that Bannon, and whoever decides to take a page from his playbook, could do time.

Per The Washington Post:

The matter now goes to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to pursue the contempt referral. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor criminal offense that can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000…. Asked at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday how the Justice Department would handle such a referral, Attorney General Merrick Garland said it “will do what it always does in such circumstances—it will apply the facts and the law.”

Legal experts have cast doubt on the merit of Bannon’s defense of his defiance of the subpoena and say the former president’s immunity from congressional subpoena extends only to his closest White House advisers—and not to private citizens like Bannon. Trump’s sweeping claims of executive privilege to shield his activities and his aides and allies from congressional scrutiny have also been questioned by constitutional experts and lawyers…. At her weekly news conference Thursday, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said that Bannon reportedly “had specific knowledge about the events of January 6th before they occurred and had multiple roles relevant to the attack and [was] very outspoken about it.”

“The committee is seeking information from Bannon that is central to the investigative and legislative purpose to investigate the January 6 domestic terrorist attack that was intended to interfere with the peaceful constitutional transfer of power,” Pelosi said.

Bannon is considered to be a key witness for the January 6 commission because he reportedly had conversations with Trump in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol, and held meetings with allies of the then president on January 5. On his podcast that day, Bannon told listeners, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

Earlier this week, Trump sued Congress and the National Archives, in an attempt to block the disclosure of documents detailing his actions and communications surrounding the insurrection, with his lawyer claiming that “in a political ploy to accommodate his partisan allies, President Biden has refused to assert executive privilege over numerous clearly privileged documents requested by the committee.” In response, committee leaders Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney dubbed Trump’s suit “nothing more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our probe,” adding: “It’s hard to imagine a more compelling public interest than trying to get answers about an attack on our democracy and an attempt to overturn the results of an election.”

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