Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump White House adviser who was indicted last week for defying a congressional subpoena, surrendered to federal authorities Monday morning and was scheduled to make his first court appearance later Monday afternoon.
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Bannon, 67, walked through a group of photographers outside the FBI field office in downtown Washington. Bannon told the news media, “I don’t want anybody to take their eye off the ball for what we do every day. . .We’re taking down the Biden regime.”
Bannon is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather for his arraignment on two counts of contempt of Congress.
Bannon will not appear in the courtroom however. Court officials said Bannon will make his first appearance by video from the courthouse, using a room and a procedure set up during the pandemic to keep detained defendants separated from other courthouse personnel.
Steve Bannon indicted after refusal to comply with Jan. 6 committee subpoena
The House select committee investigating the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 faces an uphill battle with former Trump administration officials. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
A federal grand jury indicted Bannon on Friday after he ignored a Sept. 23 subpoena to testify and provide documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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The committee wants to question Bannon about activities that occurred at the Willard Hotel the night before the riot, when pro-Trump activists sought to convince Republican lawmakers to block certification of the election. The committee’s subpoena also noted that Bannon was quoted predicting “hell is going to break loose” on Jan. 6.
Ahead of Jan. 6, Willard hotel in downtown D.C. was a Trump team ‘command center’ for effort to deny Biden the presidency
The panel has subpoenaed at least 20 Trump aides, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows did not appear Friday for a scheduled deposition, officials said.
Also subpoenaed by the House committee was Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and John McEntee, the former White House personnel director.
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The charges against Bannon are misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
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Contempt of Congress charges are rare. Three similar contempt cases have been filed in federal court in D.C. since 1990, according to court records, and all resulted in guilty pleas. But none of the convictions lasted.
Elliott Abrams, President Ronald Reagan’s former assistant secretary of state, and former senior CIA official Alan D. Fiers Jr. each served less than a year of probation and community service for taking part in a coverup of the Iran-contra scandal, court records show. Fiers and Abrams were pardoned by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
The big warning signal Stephen Bannon’s indictment sends
Scott J. Bloch, former head of the federal agency that protects government whistleblowers during the George W. Bush administration, pleaded guilty in 2010 and was sentenced but was later allowed to withdraw his plea and admit instead to destruction of property. He also served probation.
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The indictment is Bannon’s second since last year. In 2020, he was charged in a federal case alongside three others in an alleged fundraising scam targeting the donors of a private campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bannon, who pleaded not guilty, was accused of pocketing more than $1 million from his involvement with We Build the Wall while claiming that all of the money was being used for construction. He was pardoned by Trump before the case could go to trial, but his co-defendants still face charges.