Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, was found guilty this Friday of contempt of Congress for failing to appear at a meeting of the committee investigating the assault on the capitol from January 6, 2021.
Bannon, 68, an influential figure on the American right, was facing two misdemeanor charges for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House panel. The jury found him guilty on both counts.
Each charge carries a sentence of 30 days to a year in prison and a fine of $100 to $100,000. Judge Carl Nichols set the sentencing date for October 21.
The jury, made up of eight men and four women, took less than three hours of deliberations to reach a verdict.
The committee had subpoenaed Bannon because investigators believe he had advance knowledge of some of the elements of the attack in which hundreds of Trump supporters tried to prevent the certification ofJoe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Bannon, whose official White House title was chief strategist and senior adviser to the president during the seven months he served in the Trump administration in 2017, argued that his documents and testimony were protected by executive privilege.
His lawyers suggested this Friday in their closing argument that Bannon was a political target and presented the prosecution’s main witness as a politically motivated Democrat with ties to one of the prosecutors.
The prosecution argued that Bannon simply showed contempt for the authority of Congress and should be held accountable for his defiance.
In the trial there were only two days of testimony, in which the prosecutors called two witnesses and the defense none.
* With information from Reuters.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Add Comment