Judge declines to toss Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt too reverse Steve Bannon’s criminal conviction for contempt of Congress, citing insufficient support from the Justice Department for their dismissal request. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump, declined to dismiss Bannon’s conviction but did so “without prejudice,” allowing the government to refile its argument later. Bannon, a former top adviser to Trump, was convicted in 2022 after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the now-defunct House Jan. 6 committee.He argued he was protected by executive privilege adn listened to his lawyers. Despite a rocky relationship with Trump, the DOJ, under Attorney Jeanine Pirro, sought to dismiss the case in Febuary, citing prosecutorial discretion.The case was returned to the lower court after the Supreme Court vacated the charges in April.
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration‘s attempt to erase Steve Bannon‘s criminal conviction, stating the Justice Department did not provide necessary support for its case for dismissal.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Washington, D.C., judge appointed by President Donald Trump, declined the DOJ’s request to dismiss Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction. Bannon was one of Trump’s top advisers during the president’s first term before losing his job at the White House. In the years since, the president and Bannon’s turbulent relationship has played out in the public eye, even as Trump’s DOJ has sought to dismiss the conviction.
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While Nichols declined the DOJ’s request, the judge did so “without prejudice,” meaning the government will have another opportunity to update its argument and bring it back before the court. Nichols said the very brief request filed by the DOJ lacked required motivations for dismissing the indictment against Bannon.
The development comes after a jury convicted Bannon on contempt of Congress charges in 2022, after he refused to comply with the now-defunct House Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena to sit for questioning. Bannon spent a short stint in prison in 2024 after being found in contempt of Congress.
He has argued he did not break the law because he was covered by Trump’s assertion of executive privilege and was listening to his lawyers when he declined to provide testimony or documents to the committee. Bannon served as the mastermind behind Trump’s 2016 campaign and first presidential victory, before his relationship with the president broke down.
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While Bannon has had a rocky relationship with Trump, the president’s ally at the DOJ, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, moved in February to dismiss Bannon’s indictment. A court filing the request from her office was vague, saying it determined “in its prosecutorial discretion” that dismissing Bannon’s criminal case was “in the interests of justice.”
The case fell to Nichols after the Supreme Court in April vacated the contempt of Congress charges against Bannon and returned the case to the lower court for dismissal.
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