Steve Bannon indicted for contempt of Congress in Jan. 6 investigation

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Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The announcement comes weeks after the former White House chief strategist declined to cooperate with congressional investigators, citing former President Donald Trump’s claims of executive privilege. The assertions of executive privilege are being cut down by the Biden administration as well as the courts and add pressure on other allies of Trump to comply with the House panel’s subpoenas.

“Stephen K. Bannon was indicted today by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress stemming from his failure to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol,” the Justice Department said Friday.

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Bannon is expected to self-surrender on Monday, then appear in court that afternoon, according to multiple reports. If convicted, each count carries up to a year in jail, as well as a fine of $100 to $1,000, the Justice Department said.

The grand jury activity comes as Democrats are increasingly vocal about their frustration with Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Justice Department’s hesitation to enforce subpoenas after Trump directed several of his advisers to resist.

“Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law and pursues equal justice under the law,” Garland said in a statement Friday. “Today’s charges reflect the department’s steadfast commitment to these principles.”

Within minutes of the Justice Department’s announcement, the House select committee was already making moves, threatening to hold Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt after failing to comply with subpoenas on Friday.

Meanwhile, congressional Republican allies of Trump criticized the Justice Department.

“For years, Democrats baselessly accused President Trump of ‘weaponizing’ the DOJ,” Rep. Elise Stefanik tweeted.In reality, it is the Left that has been weaponizing the DOJ the ENTIRE TIME — from the false Russia Hoax to the Soviet-style prosecution of political opponents.”

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Bannon served as Trump’s White House chief strategist for much of 2017. Although he was not a member of the administration around the time of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 siege of Congress, he had reemerged as a force on the outside boosting Trump. Bannon was pardoned by Trump during his final day in office, reversing criminal charges the former campaign CEO faced for his role in an alleged “We Build the Wall” scam that raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting donors.

Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the select committee, recently said she believes the arguments made by Trump and Bannon regarding executive privilege “appear to reveal one thing: They suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of Jan. 6, and this committee will get to the bottom of that.”

In an order on Thursday, a federal appeals court granted a hold sought by Trump to block the National Archives from handing over documents to the Jan. 6 House committee starting on Friday.

The order was a victory for Trump, who sued the House and the National Archives and claimed executive privilege over more than 700 records related to the Capitol riot. Biden’s White House has declined to support Trump’s claims of executive privilege, and in a ruling on Monday, Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

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