WASHINGTON–Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has been found guilty of contempt of court after defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee.
The verdict for long-time ally of Donald Trump came down on Friday.
One of Bannon’s lawyers David Schoen told the press outside the courthouse the verdict would not stand. “This is round one,” Schoen said. “You will see this case reversed on appeal.”
Bannon was served a subpoena on Sept. 23 to provide certain documents to the House Committee as they investigated the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The subpoena required Bannon to provide the documents by Oct. 7 and to appear in person by Oct. 14.
When Bannon failed to meet the deadline, he was indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress in November.
Bannon and his team maintain that they believed those deadlines were flexible and subject to negotiation and that the committee “wanted to make an example of Steve Bannon,” Bannon’s attorney Evan Corcoran said.
“The subpoena to Stephen Bannon was not an invitation that could be rejected or ignored,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a statement. “Mr. Bannon had an obligation to appear before the House Select Committee to give testimony and provide documents. His refusal to do so was deliberate, and now a jury has found that he must pay the consequences.”