The Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling against conservative commentator Steve Bannon, paving the way for his 2022 contempt of Congress conviction to be removed.
Bannon served four months in federal prison beginning in July 2024 after being convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress by a Washington, D.C., jury for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee, established by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Bannon — who served as Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign CEO and as an aide in the Trump White House in 2017 — had invoked executive privilege regarding communications that he had with the president in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion.
Executive privilege is the right of presidents to withhold sensitive communications from Congress, the courts, or the public regarding deliberations he has with his advisers.
CBS News reported that a three-judge panel of a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court upheld the conviction. Bannon then sought to stay out of prison while he appealed his conviction further, but the Supreme Court denied the request in June 2024.
Bannon described himself as a “political prisoner” at the time before reporting to the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Connecticut, to serve his sentence.
“I am proud of going to prison,” he said, adding, “If this is what it takes to stand up to tyranny. If this is what it takes to stand up to the corrupt, criminal [Department of Justice]. If this is what it takes to stand up to Joe Biden, I’m proud to do it.”
🚨LISTEN: Steve Bannon gives a powerful speech outside of the Connecticut prison he will be held in followed by a beautiful moment of prayer:
“I am proud to go to prison. If this is what it takes to stand up to tyranny. If this is what it takes to stand up to the Garland… pic.twitter.com/aRZqvZn7lp
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 1, 2024
In a February filing to the Supreme Court, Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote, “The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.”
The Supreme Court granted Sauer’s request to vacate the criminal conviction against Bannon and instructed the district court to review the DOJ’s desire to have the case dismissed in its entirety.
NBC News reported that a dismissal of the case would be “mostly symbolic,” but it would clear Bannon of having a criminal record.
“This case should never have been brought, and we’re delighted that the decision affirming Mr. Bannon’s unlawful conviction has finally been vacated,” Michael Buschbacher, one of Bannon’s lawyers, said in an email to NBC.
White House aide Peter Navarro also served a four-month sentence in 2024 in federal prison for not complying with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena.
He was released in time to be a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July of that year.
“The D.C swamp, they convicted me. They jailed me. Guess what? They did not break me,” Navarro proclaimed in front of a raucous crowd.
“The D.C swamp, they CONVICTED me. They JAILED me.” Peter Navarro speaks at the 2024 RNC.
“THEY DID NOT BREAK ME!” pic.twitter.com/kY5orqQVs3— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) July 17, 2024
The Biden DOJ declined to prosecute then-Attorney General Merrick Garland for defying congressional subpoenas issued by Republican-led House committees.
Further, the Obama DOJ refused to prosecute then-Attorney General Eric Holder and former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner for not complying with GOP congressional subpoenas.
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