After just three hours (including a lunch break), a jury has found Steve Bannon guilty on two counts of congressional contempt.
Bannon was one of a number of Donald Trump’s close allies who chose to ignore subpoenaes ordering them to testify from the Congressional January 6 House committee. They probably thought they wouldn’t face any actual consequences, not only because Democrats are not exactly known for taking aggressive action, but also because it’s extremely rare for the Justice Department to get involved in these sorts of matters. (The DOJ hasn’t prosecuted a case like this in 40 years.) And these resisters likely thought whatever slap on the wrist—be it a fine or a strongly worded letter—they did get would be more than worth the image boost in the eyes of the MAGA crowd.
The January 6 committee believed Trump’s former chief strategist had information about the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events leading up to and around the January 6 riot—and for good reason, not the least of which being that Bannon straight-up said as much on his own unlistenable podcast.
Bannon was indicted in November on two counts of contempt: one for refusing to appear for a deposition and another for refusing to produce documents. He turned himself in to the FBI in December but he was quickly released and went back to ranting about “rigged” and “stolen” elections.
Bannon’s trial began and ended this week, and was pretty open-and-shut. He didn’t call any witnesses or testify himself. He had suggested that he could be protected by Donald Trump invoking executive privilege, which the judge ruled early on is not a possibility here because it doesn’t appear that Trump ever asked Bannon not to testify. According to the Washington Post, executive privilege also doesn’t apply “unless Bannon can show it caused him to misunderstand the subpoena’s compliance deadlines.” But Bannon didn’t misunderstand deadlines, and it doesn’t seem he was asked not to testify; he simply didn’t want to. Basically, he had no case whatsoever.
In fact, Bannon’s lawyer reportedly asked the judge ahead of this week, “What’s the point of going to trial if there are no defenses?” To which the judge replied: “Agreed.” The jury deliberated for three hours Friday before coming back with the obvious, blatantly unavoidable guilty verdict.
To which we simply say:
As for what sort of punishment Bannon is likely to face, each count of contempt carries a minimum sentence of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, according to the DOJ, as well as a fine of $100 to $100,000. There are lots of other things Steve Bannon can and should be sent to prison for, but this is a start.
(featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
