Bannon faces a prison sentence of between 30 days and a year on each of the two charges. A fine is also possible. The former Trump adviser had ignored a subpoena from the parliamentary inquiry into the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021. In addition, the former boss of the right-wing website “Breitbart News” refused to hand over documents to the committee.
Bannon’s lawyer argued in vain in the trial, which only began on Monday in federal court, that his client did not knowingly resist the subpoena. Rather, the date of the survey was “the subject of ongoing talks and negotiations”.
Prosecutor Amanda Vaughn said Bannon made a “conscious decision” not to comply with the subpoenas. The jury finally found Bannon guilty on both counts Friday after deliberating for less than three hours.
The committee’s chairman and vice-chairmen, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, welcomed the guilty verdict. “No one is above the law,” declared the two deputies. “The conviction of Steve Bannon is a victory for the rule of law and an important endorsement of the work of the committee of inquiry.”
Bannon told reporters after the guilty verdict, “We may have lost the battle here today, but we’re not going to lose this war.” He stands by “Trump and the Constitution”.
The investigative committee is working on the events surrounding the storming of the seat of the US Parliament. Trump attacked the body on Friday in a message on his online network Truth Social as a “mock court” and accused it of being “corrupt and highly partisan”.
The U-Committee believes Bannon is a key witness. According to the panel, the right-wing populist spoke to Trump the day before the storming. In his own podcast, Bannon also predicted at the time that “hell will break out”.
Radical Trump supporters then stormed Congress when the election victory of Trump’s challenger Joe Biden was to be officially confirmed. The storming of the Capitol with five dead and around 140 injured police officers caused horror worldwide and is considered a black day in the history of US democracy.
Bannon had been a central figure in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. After his election victory, he then became chief strategist in the White House. However, Trump fired him in August 2017 amid tensions between Bannon and other employees and the President himself.
Trump subsequently made disparaging remarks about Bannon – his former chief strategist “cried when he was fired and begged for his job” – but the two right-wing populists then got closer again. Shortly before the end of his presidency, Trump pardoned Bannon, who had been charged with suspected embezzlement of donations from a campaign to finance a border wall with Mexico.
