Bannon indicted on contempt charges
WASHINGTON » Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Justice Department said Bannon, 67, was indicted on one count for refusing to appear for a deposition last month and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. He is expected to surrender to authorities on Monday and will appear in court that afternoon, a law enforcement official told the AP. The person was granted anonymity to discuss the case.
The indictment comes after a parade of Trump administration officials — including Bannon — have defied requests and demands from Congress over the past five years with little consequence, including during Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. President Barack Obama’s administration also declined to charge two of its officials who defied congressional demands.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Bannon’s indictment reflects the Justice Department’s “steadfast commitment” to the rule of law. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days of jail and as long as a year behind bars.
The indictment came as a second expected witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, defied his own subpoena from the committee on Friday and as Trump has escalated his legal battles to withhold documents and testimony about the insurrection.
If the House votes to hold Meadows in contempt, that recommendation would also be sent to the Justice Department for a possible indictment.
Officials in both Democratic and Republican administrations have been held in contempt by Congress, but criminal indictments for contempt are exceedingly rare. The most recent notable examples of criminal penalties for not testifying before Congress date to the 1970s, including when President Richard Nixon’s aide G. Gordon Liddy was convicted of misdemeanor charges for refusing to answer questions about his role in the
Watergate scandal.
Democrats who voted to hold Bannon in contempt praised the Justice Department’s decision, saying the charges reinforce the authority of Congress to investigate the executive branch and signal potential consequences for those who refuse to cooperate.
“The days of defying subpoenas with impunity are over,” tweeted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who sits on the Jan. 6 panel and also led Trump’s first impeachment inquiry. “We will expose those responsible for Jan 6. No one is above the law.”
The chairman of the Jan. 6 panel, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, told reporters at an event in his home state of Mississippi on Friday that he will recommend contempt charges against Meadows next week.
Thompson and the vice chairwoman of the panel,
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, said in a statement: “Mr. Meadows, Mr. Bannon, and others who go down this path won’t prevail in stopping the Select Committee’s effort getting answers for the American people about January 6th, making legislative recommendations to help protect our democracy, and helping ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.”
Meadows and Bannon are key witnesses for the panel, as they both were in close touch with Trump around the time of the insurrection.
Meadows was Trump’s top aide at the end of his presidency and was one of several people who pressured state officials to try and overturn the results. Bannon promoted the Jan. 6 protests on his podcast and predicted there would be unrest. On Jan. 5, he predicted that “all hell is going to break loose.”