(Washington) Steve Bannon, former close adviser to Donald Trump, was found guilty Friday of obstructing the investigative powers of Congress by a federal court, after refusing to cooperate with the commission on the assault on the Capitol.
Posted at 2:51 p.m.
Updated at 3:51 p.m.
The 68-year-old man, a figure of right-wing populism in the United States and director of Donald Trump’s successful campaign in 2016, will experience his sentence in October.
The jury of a federal court in Washington deliberated for less than three hours on Friday to conclude that he was guilty on the two charges against him.
He faces between a month and a year in prison for each of these counts.
Even after being ousted from the White House in August 2017, Steve Bannon remained close to Donald Trump and spoke with him the day before the January 6, 2021 attack on the headquarters of Congress.
To find out the nature of their discussions, the parliamentary commission of inquiry responsible for shedding light on the role of the former president in this coup had summoned Steve Bannon to testify and produce documents.
He refused, citing the right of presidents to keep certain conversations secret, which led to him being charged with “obstructing” the work of Congress.
“We may have lost a battle today, but we won’t lose the war,” Bannon told reporters after the verdict was announced. “I support Trump and the Constitution.”
The Chairman of the House Inquiry into the Capitol Storming, Bennie Thompson, and Deputy Chairman, Republican Liz Cheney, both hailed the court’s decision as “a victory for the rule of law.”
“Just as everyone responsible for the events of January 6 must be held accountable, anyone who obstructs our investigation into the facts must face the consequences,” they said in a statement.
silent defense
At the opening of the proceedings on Tuesday, prosecutor Amanda Vaughn accused Steve Bannon of believing himself “above the law”.
Mr Bannon “ignored orders to comply, even after Congress rejected his pretenses, and brushed off numerous warnings that he would face prosecution if he did not comply with the subpoena as he was required to do so, ”added Mr.me Vaughn.
According to her, the commission had legitimate reasons to believe that he, like others close to the president, could have information on the links between Donald Trump and his supporters who stormed the Capitol as parliamentarians certified the Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
The defense did not produce any witnesses at the trial, which began Monday with the selection of jurors, and Steve Bannon did not speak to defend himself.
His lawyer, Evan Corcoran, however, denounced political prosecutions, assuring that “no one has[vait] ignored the subpoena” and that negotiations had even taken place with the commission regarding his deposition date.
As his trial approached, Steve Bannon had agreed to cooperate with the parliamentarians. The prosecutors had denounced “a last minute reversal in order to avoid” a conviction and the judge responsible for the case had wished to maintain the trial.
A vocal critic of the political establishment, Steve Bannon is closely associated with far-right ideas, which he promoted directly to Donald Trump when the business magnate entered the White House in 2017.
He previously ran the controversial Breitbart news site, a hub of the “alternative right”, a movement associated with certain conspiratorial theses and comprising a number of militants convinced of the superiority of the white race.