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 made his first court appearance later in the afternoon.
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Bannon, 67, walked through a group of photographers outside the FBI field office in downtown Washington. He 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 appeared in person in a green barn jacket and collard shirt before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather to hear the charges of two counts of contempt of Congress, but he was not arraigned and did not enter a plea. His arraignment was set for Thursday morning before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols.
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Prosecutors did not move to hold Bannon in jail before trial. Instead Meriweather released him on his own recognizance, placed him on general supervision and told Bannon that he must do a weekly phone check-in with the court’s pretrial services department. Bannon also had to turn in his passport and must receive court approval before traveling outside the D.C. area.
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)
Steve Bannon indicted after refusal to comply with Jan. 6 committee subpoena
A federal grand jury indicted Bannon on Friday after he ignored a Sept. 23 subpoena to testify before 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 supporters of then-President Donald Trump sought to persuade Republican lawmakers to block certification of the 2020 election results. 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.
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Also subpoenaed was 2020 Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former White House personnel director John McEntee.
Bannon did not enter a plea, after his attorneys said they are willing to waive arraignment and pointed out that under court rules, if he entered a plea before Merriweather he could be be seen to consenting to a trial before the magistrate judge instead a full federal district judge.
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In a sign of the unusualness of the charge, prosecutors corrected the court to say that unlike most misdemeanor offenses, the contempt of Congress that Bannon is charged with is punishable by a minimum 30 day jail term and up to a one year sentence if convicted, as well as up to a $100,000 fine.
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Bannon’s team addressed news cameras outside the court afterard where protesters occasionally shouted epithets at Bannon and one person help up a sign saying “Coup Plotter.”
Bannon after the hearing described the charge as “the misdemeanor from hell.”
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 stood.
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 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 in that federal case, 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.
In wake of Bannon indictment, Republicans warn of payback
Bannon left the Trump administration in 2017 but remained in contact with Trump throughout his term, including in the days leading up to Jan. 6, records have shown. Attorneys for Bannon last month told the House committee investigating the Capitol riot that Trump had instructed Bannon not to cooperate with the committee because Trump was resisting all disclosures by invoking executive privilege, even though Bannon was not in the administration in recent years and the Biden administration has waived the privilege.
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The House committee’s report recommending that Bannon be found in contempt noted that Bannon said on his radio show on Jan. 5 that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” indicating he “had some foreknowledge about extreme events that would occur the next day.”
Several top Republicans criticized the Bannon indictment on Twitter over the weekend, and accused Democrats of “weaponizing” the Justice Department.
“In reality, it is the Left that has been weaponizing the DOJ the ENTIRE TIME,” tweeted Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the third-ranking House Republican, “from the false Russia Hoax to the Soviet-style prosecution of political opponents.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) indicated that Republicans would seek payback if their party regained control of the House, tweeting that “Joe Biden has eviscerated Executive Privilege.”