Bannon’s High Court Win, After Merrick Garland Sent Him to Prison, Is Milestone in Trump’s Push To Reverse January 6 Convictions

The Supreme Court’s siding with the sometime consigliere to President Trump, Steve Bannon, on his request that his criminal conviction for contempt of Congress be dismissed, is a signature victory for the 47th president. It advances his legal efforts to unwind and undo the convictions meted out by the Biden Administration on Mr. Trump’ s supporters over January 6The high court’s ruling came on Monday in a simple two sentence order. The justices wrote that the “petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for further consideration in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment.”The order was in response to a request from the Trump Administration, which is seeking to wipe out Mr. Bannon’s jury conviction. The “guilty” verdict stemmed from his refusal to heed a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee, which was dominated by Democrats and co-chaired by a Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, a foe of Mr. Trump. Mr. Bannon had invoked executive privilege to avoid testifying. Just before his trial in July 2022, Mr. Bannon offered to testify. Prosecutors from Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department and the committee pushed ahead with the trial. Mr. Bannon was convicted of two misdemeanors and served four months in a Connecticut federal prison. Now Mr. Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, writes that the administration he serves has concluded that “in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.” Mr. Bannon’s conviction was unanimously affirmed by a three judge panel — appointed by Presidents Obama, Biden and Trump — of the District of Columbia Circuit. The Supreme Court’s order now vacates that ruling, and sends the case back to the trial court judge, Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Trump. The Department of Justice has a motion for dismissal already lodged with Judge Nichols. The path now appears clear to grant that motion.The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, says in a statement that Mr. Bannon’s conviction flowed from an “improper” subpoena and that, “This department will continue to undo the prior administration’s weaponization of the justice system.” One of Mr. Trump’s first acts of his second term was to pardon nearly all of the some 1,500 defendants convicted by the Biden Administration for the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Some of the defendants had received decades-long prison sentences.Mr. Bannon argued to the D.C. Circuit — unsuccessfully — that the conviction was unlawful because he did not “willfully” defy the subpoena, a necessary statutory requirement to be found guilty of contempt of Congress. He contends that he did not testify on the counsel of his lawyer, not out of willful defiance. Mr. Bannon insists that he defied the subpoena because the testimony he would have delivered was protected by executive privilege.The D.C. Circuit disagreed, rejecting the argument of executive privilege and ruling that Mr. Bannon’s “advice of counsel defense is no defense at all.” His lawyers, though, wrote to the Supreme Court — successfully — that their client “relied in good faith on his attorney’s advice to delay compliance with a subpoena issued by a House Select Committee until executive privilege disputes were first resolved.” That convinced the justices. Mr. Bannon’s lead attorney, Evan Corcoran — who would likely have been a key witness at trial for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal documents case against Mr. Trump — declares in a statement that Mr. Bannon’s was “an unjust conviction” that “validated a fundamental rule—like oil and water, politics and prosecutions don’t mix.”In 2024 the Supreme Court denied an appeal from another adviser to Mr. Trump, Peter Navarro. He had also refused a subpoena to testify before the January 6 Committee, and served an identical four months in prison in Florida. Mr. Navarro, now 75, has returned to the White House as a counselor to the president. When his appeal was denied he said “I will walk proudly in there to do my time. I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee.” Mr. Navarro has said he does not want a presidential pardon.The decision whether to dismiss Mr. Bannon’s conviction now rests with Judge Nichols, who clerked for two conservative legal legends — Judge Laurence Silberman of the D.C. Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas. Generally, judges acquiesce when the government indicates that it no longer stands behind a prosecution. A notable exception, though, was when Judge Emmet Sullivan resisted dismissing the criminal case against General Michael Flynn, which had been originally brought by the Obama Administration.Judge Sullivan told General Flynn, who pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI as part of the Russiagate investigation, that “arguably, you sold your country out.” General Flynn subsequently sought to withdraw those pleas, and was then pardoned by Mr. Trump, ending the case. The Trump Administration also sought to withdraw charges against Mayor Adams, a reversal that precipitated a wave of resignations in the DOJ. A judge, though, eventually dismissed the case. In January of 2021 Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Bannon for allegedly defrauding donors in a “We Build the Wall” campaign. That charter of clemency, though, did not cover the contempt charges, which were prosecuted the following year. Mr. Bannon had also been charged in state court in New York — where Mr. Trump’s pardon power cannot reach — regarding the “Wall” charity. He pled guilty last month to a low level misdemeanor and was given a three year “conditional discharge” which means he avoids prison if he stays out of trouble for three years.

Bannon’s High Court Win, After Merrick Garland Sent Him to Prison, Is Milestone in Trump’s Push To Reverse January 6 Convictions

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