The Trump administration made a second attempt Thursday to throw out Steve Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, NBC News reported.
Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist and senior counselor in Trump’s first term, was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022 and spent four months in prison.
In a court filing, the Justice Department said it “does not believe that it is appropriate to pursue contempt of Congress charges against a former advisor to the President who did not comply with a subpoena investigating the events of January 6, 2021, based on an asserted belief that he was protected by executive privilege.”
The department also said it “harbors significant doubts” about the fairness of Bannon’s trial. It pointed to Trump’s “grave concerns” about the Biden administration’s Jan. 6 prosecutions, noting that he had issued “a large number of pardons and commutations,” and said defending the conviction “is inconsistent with this Administration’s enforcement priorities.” Trump pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants on his first day back in office.
The motion was signed by Deputy Associate Attorney General Michael Weisbuch. Bannon’s attorneys didn’t object.
The filing is the department’s second try. In August, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected its first request to dismiss the indictment, ruling that prosecutors hadn’t adequately explained their reasons, though he left the door open for them to try again. Nichols got the case back after the Supreme Court vacated an appeals court decision affirming Bannon’s conviction.
Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter once represented Bannon, but he didn’t sign Thursday’s filing.
The department’s position, that it won’t prosecute a former Trump adviser who defied a Jan. 6 subpoena on executive privilege grounds, comes as Democrats prepare to take control of both chambers of Congress in January, along with the subpoena power that comes with it. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee, has already warned Trump allies to “lawyer up.”
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