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Steve Bannon charged with contempt of

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Steve Bannon has not publicly commented on Tuesday's vote in the House Select Committee
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11/13/21, 7:08 PM Steve Bannon charged with contempt of Congress - BBC News
Steve Bannon has not publicly commented on Tuesday s vote in the House Select Committee

Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has been charged with contempt of
Congress after refusing to give evidence about the US Capitol riot.

He was summoned to testify on what he knew about plans for the protest that
ended with the storming of Congress.

The House of Representatives voted last month to send the case to the justice
department, which opted on Friday to prosecute Mr Bannon, 67.

He could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 (£74,500) fine.

Trump supporters raided the US Congress building on 6 January as lawmakers

were meeting to certify the election result.

Mr Trump, a Republican, has refused to acknowledge losing the election to

Democratic President Joe Biden last year, making claims - without evidence -
of mass voter fraud.

What exactly is Bannon charged with?

This was the first such indictment to come out of the House of
Representatives Select Committee's inquiry of the 6 January invasion of the
Capitol complex.

One of the contempt counts against Mr Bannon is linked to his refusal to

appear for a deposition and the other is for his refusal to produce documents
for the committee.

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11/13/21, 7:08 PM Steve Bannon charged with contempt of Congress - BBC News
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Mr Trump seen attending the baseball World Series last month

The political advisor - who was fired from the White House in 2017 but
remained loyal to former President Donald Trump - is expected to surrender to

authorities on Monday, when he will appear in court.

In a statement released on Friday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said

the indictment reflected the justice department's "steadfast commitment" to
the rule of law.

Subpoena documents quote Mr Bannon - who currently hosts the right-wing

War Room podcast - as saying on the eve of the riot that "all hell is going to
break loose tomorrow".

The 67-year-old's lawyers argued that his communications involving the

former president were protected.

What has Trump had to say?

Mr Trump has urged his former aides to reject all requests to submit to
depositions. He argued they have the right to withhold information because of
executive privilege - a legal principle that protects many White House
communications.

The US Court of Appeals in Washington is scheduled to hold a hearing at the

end of this month to rule on Mr Trump's claim of executive privilege, after it
was rejected by a lower court.

The former president is also attempting to block a trove of phone records,

visitor logs and other White House documents that congressional
investigators are chasing for their Capitol riot inquiry.

President Biden has argued that executive privilege does not apply in this
case.

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11/13/21, 7:08 PM Steve Bannon charged with contempt of Congress - BBC News

When a mob stormed the US capitol

Will Bannon go to prison?

Contempt of Congress cases are notoriously difficult to litigate.

The last successful prosecution was in 1974, against a conspirator in the

Watergate scandal that forced President Richard Nixon out of office.

If Mr Bannon is cleared it will not be his first scrape with the legal system.
Before leaving office in January, Mr Trump pardoned Mr Bannon of charges
that he had defrauded donors who gave money to fund construction of a
southern border wall.

Charting Steve Bannon's sharp rise and fall

Is anyone else defying the committee?

Mr Bannon's indictment came on the same day that Mark Meadows, a former
White House chief of staff in the Trump administration, defied a similar
subpoena to appear before the committee.

His lawyer said on Friday that Mr Meadows had a "sharp legal dispute" with
the committee because of Mr Trump's claims of executive privilege.

In a statement, committee chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi

Democrat, said that Mr Meadow's decision "to defy the law" may force the
committee to pursue contempt proceedings like those applied to Mr Bannon.

"It's unfortunate that Mr Meadows has chosen to join a very small group of
witnesses who believe they are above the law," Mr Thompson said.

He added that efforts from Mr Meadows, Mr Bannon and others "won't prevail
in stopping the select committee's effort getting answers for the American
people about January 6th".

The House Select Committee has issued dozens of subpoenas in the last week,
calling on many former Trump officials to hand over documents and testify
about the riot.

They include Kayleigh McEnany, the ex-White House press secretary, Stephen
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p of Congress - BBC News
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Miller, who was Mr Trump's senior adviser, and Michael Flynn, former national
security adviser.

More on this story

Congress plans criminal charge for ex-Trump aide

14 October

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