The US Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for the Justice Department to move forward with dismissing a criminal case in which Steve Bannon, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted after defying a congressional subpoena.
The department’s decision to drop Bannon’s case was one of multiple actions it has taken that have benefited allies and supporters of the Republican president since Trump returned to office last year. Bannon was convicted by a jury in Washington in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents or testimony to a Democratic-led House of Representatives panel that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The Supreme Court yesterday threw out a lower court’s decision to uphold Bannon’s conviction.
Trump’s Justice Department, in urging the Supreme Court to toss the lower court’s decision, told the justices in court papers it has determined that dismissal of Bannon’s case “is in the interests of justice.” The department already had filed a motion to dismiss the case at the trial court level.
After the Supreme Court in 2024 denied Bannon’s request to keep him out of prison while his appeal played out, he served a four-month sentence at a low-security federal facility in Danbury, Connecticut.
M Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for Bannon, welcomed the Supreme Court’s action yesterday.
“It has been one battle after another for five years, but today the Supreme Court vacated an unjust conviction, and in doing so validated a fundamental rule – like oil and water, politics and prosecution don’t mix,” Corcoran said.
The Supreme Court, in a brief unsigned order, returned the case to the lower court for further consideration “in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment.”
The Capitol rioters had tried to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump in his unsuccessful 2020 reelection bid. Bannon called the House committee’s probe and the charges brought against him by the Justice Department during Biden’s presidency politically motivated.
Bannon, 72, served as a key adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his chief White House strategist in 2017 during Trump’s first term in office before a falling out between them that was later patched up.
Bannon was released from prison a week before Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Bannon cast himself as a political prisoner and told reporters upon his release, “I am far from broken. I have been empowered by my four months at Danbury federal prison.” Bannon resumed hosting his War Room podcast.
A firebrand, Bannon helped articulate the “America First” right-wing populism and stout opposition to immigration that has helped define Trump’s presidency. Bannon has played an instrumental role in right-wing media and has promoted right-wing causes and candidates in the US and abroad.
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