House votes to hold Trump ally Bannon in contempt for ignoring subpoena

Unclear if prosecutors will pursue criminal case

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and aide to former U.S. president Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

In a rare show of bipartisanship on the House floor, the committee’s Democratic chair, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, led the floor debate along with Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the panel. Still, the vote was 229-202 with all but nine GOP lawmakers who voted saying “no.”

The House vote sends the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, where it will now be up to prosecutors in that office to decide whether to present the case to a grand jury for possible criminal charges. It’s still uncertain whether they will pursue the case. Attorney General Merrick Garland would only say at a House hearing Thursday that they plan to “make a decision consistent with the principles of prosecution.”

The partisan split over Bannon’s subpoena, and over the committee’s investigation in general, is emblematic of the raw tensions that still grip Congress nine months after the Capitol attack. Democrats have vowed to comprehensively probe the assault in which hundreds of Trump’s supporters battered their way past police, injured dozens of officers and interrupted the electoral count certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

Lawmakers on the investigating committee say they will move swiftly and forcefully to punish anyone who won’t cooperate with the probe.

Republicans call it a “witch hunt,” say it is a waste of time and argue that Congress should be focusing on more important matters than the insurrection.

The Jan. 6 committee voted 9-0 Tuesday to recommend the contempt charges after Bannon missed an interview with the panel last week, citing a letter from Trump’s lawyer directing him not to answer questions.

The committee noted that Bannon did not work at the White House at the time of the attack, and that he not only spoke with Trump before it but also promoted the protests on his podcast and predicted there would be unrest. On Jan. 5, Bannon said that “all hell is going to break loose.”