A jury on Friday found former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon guilty of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for defying a House committee subpoena on January 6 after about three hours of deliberation.
For each count, Bannon could spend up to a year in prison. On October 21, he is due to receive his punishment.
Almost nobody should be surprised by the outcome. Last week, during a last-minute hearing in which the defense argued the case should be postponed or even dismissed from court, Bannon’s own attorney essentially conceded defeat.
Steve Bannon has been undermining America’s democratic institutions for years by demonizing the press, propagating false information and animosity toward immigrants, igniting an uprising, and breaking the law.
He’s always gotten away with it up until this point. He received a presidential pardon after being charged with defrauding donors to a private organization that claimed to be raising money for Donald Trump’s border wall.
He was accused of signing up to vote in Florida even though he didn’t reside there, but he avoided prosecution.
Additionally, Bannon’s legal team and he both acted as though they were aware that their arguments were irrelevant. Team Bannon didn’t even present a case, a former prosecutor and frequent “ReidOut” guest Glenn Kirschner observed from inside the courtroom.
