Former Trump political advisor Steve Bannon was found guilty by a federal jury on two charges of criminally disobeying a subpoena in connection with the assault on the U.S. Capitol last year.
Just two government witnesses testified in the case, including the deputy staff director of the House Select Committee looking into the events of January 6, 2021, and Bannon offered no defence.
The Justice Department assured the jury that the case was clear-cut and as straightforward as the language on the subpoena sent to Bannon last fall.
“The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston said in closing arguments.
Prosecutors claimed that Bannon had publicly declared his disobedience on the social media platform Gettr, writing that he had informed lawmakers he would “NOT comply” on October 8, 2021, after the first committee deadline had passed.
The Jan. 6 committee’s Kristin Amerling, the lead government witness, informed the jury that the committee wanted to learn more about Bannon’s interactions with former President Trump, his presence with others at the Willard Hotel in the early 2021, and his comment that “all hell is going to break loose” on the War Room podcast the day before the Capitol siege.
Subpoena date mixup
Bannon failed to show up for a deposition last year and offered no papers to the Democratic-led committee, arguing that Trump’s assertion of executive privilege prevented him from appearing.
The claim of privilege was questioned by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, and Trump’s own attorney implied that it would not cover Bannon’s complete lack of cooperation with the House Select Committee.
Bannon’s mistake, according to defence attorney Evan Corcoran, was with the subpoena dates. Amerling, a government witness, had allegedly given money to Democratic political candidates and belonged to the same book club as prosecutor Gaston, according to Corcoran’s claims.
On the eve of the trial, Bannon offered to speak before Congress in a public session in an effort to postpone the lawsuit. That offer was deemed by the Justice Department to be a ruse and “not even a decent one,” according to the prosecution, because it did not satisfy the panel’s request for records.
After the verdict, the prosecution departed the courthouse without comment. A written statement from the U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said, “Mr. Bannon had an obligation to appear before the House Select Committee to give testimony and provide documents. His refusal to do so was deliberate and now a jury has found that he must pay the consequences.”