The Justice Department on Monday moved to dismiss its long-running criminal case against Steve Bannon, tied to his refusal to testify before the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition before the House committee that investigated the insurrection and declining to produce documents requested by the committee.
Bannon served four months in federal prison in 2024.
The Justice Department wrote in its unopposed motion Monday to dismiss the case: “The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.”
Bannon had asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal of his conviction last year, and the Trump administration’s response was due Monday. Instead of addressing the issues Bannon raised, Solicitor John D. Sauer, a former Trump personal lawyer, said the government now believes the underlying indictment should be dismissed.
He asked the high court to vacate the judgment against Bannon and send it back to a lower court to be dismissed.
At the same time, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, submitted a filing with the lower court judge asking that the case be dismissed. The filing says "Defendant Bannon does not oppose this motion."
Bannon did not immediately return a request for comment.
If the legal strategy works, it would be largely symbolic since Bannon already served his time.
The indictment and conviction against Bannon came after the House voted in 2021 to find him in contempt of Congress. The Jan. 6 committee wanted more information about comments he made the day before the riot.
“All hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” he said on his radio program Jan. 5.
Bannon refused to comply with the subpoena for his testimony and request for documents, citing Trump's assertion of executive privilege.
After leading Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Bannon served in the White House during Trump's first term for less than a year as a senior counselor and chief strategist. He now hosts a popular podcast.
After a jury found Bannon guilty in 2022, the leaders of the Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and then-Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a joint statement, “As the prosecutor stated, Steve Bannon ‘chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law.’ Just as there must be accountability for all those responsible for the events of January 6th, anyone who obstructs our investigation into these matters should face consequences."
Bannon sought several times to appeal his conviction, but those previous efforts had been unsuccessful.
