WASHINGTON — Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon received a favorable Supreme Court ruling Monday that appears set to overturn his criminal conviction for refusing to cooperate with a Congressional investigation.
Following pressure from the current Trump administration, the nation’s highest court vacated a lower court decision that had affirmed Bannon’s conviction for ignoring a subpoena issued by the House committee examining the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack carried out by Trump supporters.
This action allows a trial court judge to consider the Republican administration’s current motion to throw out both Bannon’s conviction and the underlying charges for the sake of justice.
The potential dismissal carries mostly ceremonial weight, as Bannon already completed a four-month jail sentence following his 2022 jury conviction on contempt of Congress charges. A federal appeals court in Washington had previously affirmed that conviction.
While the Justice Department pursued the case against Bannon under Democrat Joe Biden’s administration, officials reversed their position after Trump returned to the presidency this year.
Bannon’s defense had maintained that his testimony fell under Trump’s assertion of executive privilege. However, the House investigation panel and Justice Department argued this claim lacked merit since Trump had dismissed Bannon from his White House position in 2017, making him a private citizen during his communications with the then-president before the Capitol incident.
In a separate matter, Bannon entered a guilty plea in New York state court for misleading contributors to a private border wall construction project, accepting a plea agreement that spared him additional prison time. This state conviction remains unaffected by Monday’s Supreme Court decision.
