House votes to hold Bannon in contempt
DOJ will decide whether to prosecute Trump ally
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.
Bannon, who was White House chief strategist for the first few months of Donald Trump’s presidency, ignored subpoenas from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a proTrump mob. The Select Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to hold Bannon in congressional contempt.
The full House voted 229-202. All Democrats voted in favor; most Republicans voted against.
House GOP leadership had urged members Wednesday to vote no, but nine Republicans voted to hold Bannon in contempt. That included Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, both of whom serve on the Jan. 6 committee.
Other Republicans included Michigan Reps. Fred Upton and Peter Meijer, Rep. John Katko of New York, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington.
Many of the Republicans who voted yes Thursday also voted to impeach Trump in January when he was accused of inciting the insurrection. But three Republicans who voted to impeach Trump voted against holding Bannon in contempt: Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Tom Rice, R-S.C., and David Valadao, R-Calif.
Mace and Fitzpatrick did not vote to impeach Trump.
Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, who was specifically targeted by rioters on Jan. 6, did not vote.
After the vote, Cheney told reporters outside the Capitol that the nine Republican votes reflect “the fact that this should not be a partisan issue and that people recognize that what happened on January 6 can’t go uninvestigated and that when Congress issues a subpoena, you can’t simply fail to comply.”
Now that the House has passed the contempt report recommended by the committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., will recommend it to the Justice Department, which has final say on whether to prosecute Bannon.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made no commitment Thursday to pursue criminal charges against Bannon, but in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, he vowed to “apply the facts and law consistent with the principles of prosecution” should the Trump adviser’s fate fall to the Justice Department.
If the Justice Department doesn’t prosecute, the House has other options, including a civil lawsuit. That could also take years but would force Bannon and any other witnesses to defend themselves in court.
Another option would be for Congress to try to imprison defiant witnesses – an unlikely, if not outlandish, scenario. Called “inherent contempt,” the process was used in the country’s early years but hasn’t been employed in almost a century.
Lawmakers want to know about any communications Bannon had with Trump in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, which occurred as lawmakers and Pence gathered in a special session to formally count the Electoral College votes that established Joe Biden as winner of the 2020 presidential election. Subpoena documents also note that on his radio show, Bannon said on Jan. 5 that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Bannon is claiming executive privilege from Trump in his refusal to cooperate with the committee.