Steve Bannon

US jury finds Bannon guilty of defying requests for information by congressional panel investigating January 6 riot.

Bannon’s team told the judge that Bannon saw no point in testifying at his trial since Nichols’s previous rulings had gutted his avenues of defence. The correspondence shows committee chair, Bennie Thompson, immediately dismissing Bannon’s claim that he was exempted under Trump’s claim of executive privilege and explicitly threatening him with criminal prosecution. Bannon declined to testify on Thursday, and his lawyers did not call any witnesses. In closing arguments earlier on Friday, both sides of the trial re-emphasised their primary positions. The guilty verdict on Friday is the first conviction related to refusing to cooperate with the January 6 panel. Bannon’s lawyers said they intend to appeal the verdict.

A federal court jury in Washington deliberated for less than three hours before finding Bannon guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress, which the Justice ...

Trump fired him after about seven months on the job, following a series of run-ins and turf battles with other aides and amid suspicion that he was leaking details about internal deliberations to reporters. “Mr. Bannon was found guilty of contempt by a jury of his peers for his choice to ignore a lawful subpoena.” Nichols said an appeals court precedent from a similar contempt-of-Congress case decided 61 years ago ruled out the bulk of the defense Bannon’s lawyers said he wanted to present. His refusal to do so was deliberate and now a jury has found that he must pay the consequences.” Two other committee witnesses, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino, were also held in contempt by the House, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute them. “Mr. Bannon had an obligation to appear before the House Select Committee to give testimony and provide documents. The committee also recently learned, via Mother Jones, of an audio recording of Bannon days before Election Day, foreshadowing that Trump would declare victory on election night even if he lost and use it as part of a strategy to sow doubt about the integrity of the vote. In fact, it was Bannon’s team that urged the court to postpone closing arguments until Friday after prosecutors had urged a more expedited schedule a day earlier. Last week, days before his trial began, Bannon made a belated offer to testify to the select committee, citing an agreement by Trump to “waive” executive privilege over the testimony. “That could be a doubt as to the government’s case, a reasonable doubt as to whether Chairman Thompson signed this subpoena. Defense lawyer Evan Corcoran even displayed a series of letters in an attempt to convince jurors that Committee Chair Bennie Thompson’s (D-Miss.) signature on the subpoena to Bannon may have been forged. A federal court jury in Washington deliberated for less than three hours before finding Bannon guilty Friday afternoon on two counts of contempt of Congress, which the Justice Department brought last year after he defied a subpoena from the House panel.

An unofficial adviser to Donald Trump, Mr Bannon refused to co-operate with the 6 January committee.

But the podcaster is still considered a top ally of Mr Trump. In closing statements, lawyer Evan Corcoran told the court the path his client Mr Bannon took "turned out to be a mistake" but "was not a crime". Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Mr Bannon vowed to have the case reversed on what his lawyer called a "bullet-proof appeal".

Steve Bannon will be sentenced in October after being found guilty of defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6, ...

Mr Corcoran said the committee "rushed to judgement" because it "wanted to make an example of Steve Bannon". Bannon also has played an instrumental role in right-wing media. But the House panel and the Justice Department contend such a claim is dubious because Mr Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the riot on January 6, 2021.

Former Trump adviser faces jail after failing to comply with subpoena from January 6 committee.

I support Trump and the Constitution and if they want to put me in jail for that, so be it,” he said.

Bannon is the first close Trump aide to be convicted as a result of the committee's probe. Former Trump adviser Steven Bannon was found guilty Friday of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the attack, the New York Times reports. Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner testified to the Jan. 6 select committee that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy seemed "scared" and pleaded for White House intervention in a Jan. 6 phone call. Catch up fast: Bannon was found guilty Friday of two counts of contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with a subpoena from the Congressional select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. - Bannon was not working for the administration on the day of the riot, but the committee wanted his testimony because he was in communication with other key officials in the lead up to Jan. 6, and it believed his podcasts contributed to what occurred that day, theWashington Postreports. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon lashed out on Friday at the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, hours after a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with the committee's investigation.