Jury Convicts Former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon On Two Counts Of Contempt Of Congress

On Friday, a D.C. jury convicted Stephen Bannon, a former top adviser for President Trump, of two counts of contempt of Congress.

The conviction came months after Bannon defied a subpoena to answer questions from the Democrat-led committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot.

“The jury deliberated for less than three hours,” The New York Times reported. “The guilty verdict came after weeks of heated speeches by Mr. Bannon outside the federal courthouse in Washington, a lengthy jury selection process and a speedy trial that a judge had vowed to keep from becoming ‘a political circus.’ It also arrived one day after video of Mr. Bannon briefly appeared in a public hearing of the House committee he had snubbed, as investigators played a clip of him saying that Mr. Trump had planned to declare victory in the 2020 election, no matter what the results were.”

The New York Times explained that the conviction is significant because it is the first of a close aide to Trump resulting from investigations into the Capitol riot, even though Bannon was only found guilty of a low-level crime.

“I only have one disappointment,” Bannon told reporters on Friday. “And that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 Committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.”

Steve Bannon addresses reporters after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress:

"I only have one disappointment and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 Committee didn't have the guts to come down here and testify in open court." pic.twitter.com/S2lN8a70Dl

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 22, 2022

Peter Navarro, another former Trump adviser, was also charged with contempt for defying a subpoena from the Democrat-led committee, and he will go to trial in November.

“This is a man who didn’t show up,” DOJ prosecutor Molly Gaston said of Bannon on Friday morning, Fox News reported.

“He didn’t want to recognize Congress’ authority or play by the government’s rules,” Gaston added. “Our government only works if people show up and play by the rules and are held accountable when they do not.”

“When he chose to defy a congressional subpoena, that was a crime,” the DOJ prosecutor continued. “The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law.”