Trump’s adviser was indicted for violating the Capitol riot subpoena

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WASHINGTON: Stephen Bannon, a former prominent adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, has been charged with criminal misconduct for violating a subpoena issued by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Justice Department said Friday .

Bannon refused to cooperate with a select committee of the House of Representatives seeking testimony and documents from him, citing Trump’s insistence – already denied by a judge – that he has the right to keep the requested material confidential under a legal doctrine called executive privilege.

Bannon, 67, was charged with a count of Congressional contempt for refusing to appear for a deposition and a second count for refusing to show documents. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of $ 100,000.

Justice Department spokesman Bill Miller said Bannon was “expected to surrender himself” on Monday in Washington and would make his first court appearance in the case that afternoon.

Trump sought to stonewall the committee, which reviewed his actions in connection with the deadly unrest in the Capitol, and ordered his former colleagues not to cooperate. The charges against Bannon could strengthen the committee’s efforts to obtain testimony and documents from other Trump comrades.

Bannon’s indictment was announced just hours after Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows refused to appear for a deposition on the committee, threatening to also be found as an insult to Congress.

Trump sued the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack

Capitol riots: 6 subpoenas issued to top Trump campaign comrades

Disrespectful prosecutions in Congress by the Department of Justice were formerly long and notoriously difficult to achieve, often ending in acquittal or dismissal on appeal.

The last time the department prosecuted a contempt referral was in 1983, during the Superfund investigation into the Ronald Reagan administration. Environmental Protection Agency official Rita Lavelle was then charged with contempt but her case ended in acquittal.

This is the second time in 15 months that Bannon has faced criminal charges. Bannon was charged in August 2020 of defrauding donors in We Build the Wall, a private fundraising effort to bolster Trump’s wall project on the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump subsequently pardoned Bannon before the case went to trial.

As a top adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that later served as the White House’s chief strategist, Bannon helped proclaim “America First” right -wing populism and strong opposition to immigration that helped define Trump’s presidency.

Bannon, who has promoted various right-wing causes and candidates in the United States and abroad, continues to offer advice to Trump after leaving his post at the White House in 2017. Bannon is a well-known person in right-wing media circles and formerly headed the Breitbart News Website.

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