Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House official, has his appeal for a conviction for contempt of Congress denied Friday by a federal appeals court.
Former White House official Steve Bannon’s appeal of his contempt of Congress conviction was denied Friday, meaning he will still have to serve jail time for ignoring a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a 20-page opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a three-body panel, said granting Bannon’s appeal would «hamstring Congress’s investigatory authority.»
Bannon claimed he acted on the advice of his legal team and did not intend to break the law. Judge Bradley Garcia wrote that acting on «advice of counsel» defense is «no defense at all.»
«As both this court and the Supreme Court have repeatedly explained, a contrary rule would contravene the text of the contempt statute and hamstring Congress’s investigatory authority,» Garcia wrote. «Because we have no basis to depart from that binding precedent, and because none of Bannon’s other challenges to his convictions have merit, we affirm.
