Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Nov 20, 2025

A Federal Grand Jury Indicted Steve Bannon For Contempt Of Congress

A Federal Grand Jury Indicted Steve Bannon For Contempt Of Congress

The close Trump adviser had ignored a subpoena as part of the House’s investigation into Jan. 6.

Steve Bannon, the longtime close adviser to former president Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to provide documents and testimony to the special committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Each misdemeanor count carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a minimum term of 30 days behind bars. A date hasn’t been set yet for Bannon’s first court appearance.

The indictment comes just over three weeks after the House voted to hold Bannon in criminal contempt and refer the case over to the Justice Department to decide whether to take the matter to a grand jury. Earlier this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland had been asked about the status of the case and demurred, only saying generally that officials were following the normal review process.

Bannon had refused to comply with a congressional subpoena issued by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He was scheduled to appear before the panel, but instead his lawyers sent a letter claiming Bannon was “exercising executive privilege” per the instruction of Trump’s lawyer. Trump himself has attempted to use executive privilege to block records from his administration being released to the panel, which is now the subject of a court fight.

Bannon was the first former Trump aide to defy the panel’s request based on Trump’s claim of executive privilege. His indictment raises the stakes for other former aides who defy the committee at Trump’s direction. Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, did not appear for a House panel deposition scheduled for Friday.

“Mr. Meadows’s actions today — choosing to defy the law — will force the Select Committee to consider pursuing contempt or other proceedings to enforce the subpoena,” Reps. Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, cochairs of the committee, wrote in a statement.

The indictment was signed by the newly confirmed US attorney in Washington, Matthew Graves, marking one of his first politically significant actions as the head of the office that’s taken the lead this year in prosecuting hundreds of cases related to the Capitol riot.

Trump and Bannon had something of a hot and cold relationship during Trump’s time in the White House. They had a falling out in 2018 over insults Bannon was quoted as saying about Trump’s family in Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, but reportedly had reconciled by the time Trump left office, after Bannon backed his voter fraud lies on his own popular podcast. Bannon at the time was facing federal criminal charges on allegations that he committed fraud as part of a “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort; Trump pardoned him hours before Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20.

Bannon did not respond to a request for comment about the indictment.

Contempt of Congress prosecutions are extremely rare. A Congressional Research Service report from 2017 noted that previous attorneys general have directed the US attorney in Washington to not prosecute executive branch officials who were acting at the direction of a president who asserted executive privilege. Trump is not, however, president anymore, and has so far lost in court trying to argue that he should be able to claim that privilege to block document demands by the committee even though Biden has refused to support it.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Caribbean Reparations Commission Seeks ‘Mutually Beneficial’ Justice from UK
EU Insists UK Must Contribute Financially for Access to Electricity Market and Broader Ties
UK to Outlaw Live-Event Ticket Resales Above Face Value
President Donald Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House to Seal Major Defence and Investment Deals
German Entertainment Icons Alice and Ellen Kessler Die Together at Age 89
UK Unveils Sweeping Asylum Reforms with 20-Year Settlement Wait and Conditional Status
UK Orders Twitter Hacker to Repay £4.1 Million Following 2020 High-Profile Breach
Popeyes UK Eyes Century Mark as Fried-Chicken Chain Accelerates Roll-out
Two-thirds of UK nurses report working while unwell amid staffing crisis
Britain to Reform Human-Rights Laws in Sweeping Asylum Policy Overhaul
Nearly Half of Job Losses Under Labour Government Affect UK Youth
UK Chancellor Reeves Eyes High-Value Home Levy in Budget to Raise Tens of Billions
UK Urges Poland to Choose Swedish Submarines in Multi-Billion € Defence Bid
US Border Czar Tom Homan Declares UK No Longer a ‘Friend’ Amid Intelligence Rift
UK Announces Reversal of Income Tax Hike Plans Ahead of Budget
Starmer Faces Mounting Turmoil as Leaked Briefings Ignite Leadership Plot Rumours
UK Commentator Sami Hamdi Returns Home After US Visa Revocation and Detention
UK Eyes Denmark-Style Asylum Rules in Major Migration Shift
UK Signals Intelligence Freeze Amid US Maritime Drug-Strike Campaign
TikTok Awards UK & Ireland 2025 Celebrates Top Creators Including Max Klymenko as Creator of the Year
UK Growth Nearly Stalls at 0.1% in Q3 as Cyberattack Halts Car Production
Apple Denied Permission to Appeal UK App Store Ruling, Faces Over £1bn Liability
UK Chooses Wylfa for First Small Modular Reactors, Drawing Sharp U.S. Objection
Starmer Faces Growing Labour Backlash as Briefing Sparks Authority Crisis
Reform UK Withdraws from BBC Documentary Amid Legal Storm Over Trump Speech Edit
UK Prime Minister Attempts to Reassert Authority Amid Internal Labour Leadership Drama
UK Upholds Firm Rules on Stablecoins to Shield Financial System
Brussels Divided as UK-EU Reset Stalls Over Budget Access
Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day Essay Expresses Strong Regret at Leaving Britain
UK Unemployment Hits 5% as Wage Growth Slows, Paving Way for Bank of England Rate Cut
Starmer Warns of Resurgent Racism in UK Politics as He Vows Child-Poverty Reforms
UK Grocery Inflation Slows to 4.7% as Supermarkets Launch Pre-Christmas Promotions
UK Government Backs the BBC amid Editing Scandal and Trump Threat of Legal Action
UK Assessment Mis-Estimated Fallout From Palestine Action Ban, Records Reveal
UK Halts Intelligence Sharing with US Amid Lethal Boat-Strike Concerns
King Charles III Leads Britain in Remembrance Sunday Tribute to War Dead
UK Retail Sales Growth Slows as Households Hold Back Ahead of Black Friday and Budget
Shell Pulls Out of Two UK Floating Wind Projects Amid Renewables Retreat
Viagogo Hit With £15 Million Tax Bill After HMRC Transfer-Pricing Inquiry
Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack Pinches UK GDP, Bank of England Says
UK and Germany Sound Alarm on Russian-Satellite Threat to Critical Infrastructure
Former Prince Andrew Faces U.S. Congressional Request for Testimony Amid Brexit of Royal Title
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness Resign Amid Editing Controversy
Tom Cruise Arrives by Helicopter at UK Scientology Fundraiser Amid Local Protests
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson Face Fresh UK Probes Amid Royal Fallout
Mothers Link Teen Suicides to AI Chatbots in Growing Legal Battle
UK Government to Mirror Denmark’s Tough Immigration Framework in Major Policy Shift
UK Government Turns to Denmark-Style Immigration Reforms to Overhaul Border Rules
UK Chancellor Warned Against Cutting Insulation Funding as Budget Looms
UK Tenant Complaints Hit Record Levels as Rental Sector Faces Mounting Pressure
×