Steve Bannon Suffers Legal Setback

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has suffered a legal setback after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request to consider vacating his contempt of Congress conviction.

Bannon began a four-month prison sentence on July 1, 2024, after he was found guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol. He was released in October.

Newsweek has contacted Bannon’s legal team via email outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

After President Donald Trump’s decided to pardon or commute the sentences of nearly 1,600 January 6 Capitol rioters, Bannon was looking to expunge his record.

What To Know

Bannon, who was an adviser to President Trump in the first year of his first term, was charged with contempt of Congress after failing to appear for a deposition and refusing to produce documents that were requested by the House Select Committee.

Bannon appealed the charges several times. The Supreme Court denied his request to stave off his sentence, resulting in him serving his prison sentence in full in 2024.

His request for the D.C. Circuit Court to vacate his charges stems from his argument that his refusal to comply with his subpoena was not done “willfully,” and that he only defied the subpoena at the request of his legal representation who warned that complying would result in exposing privileged information.

He also argued that Congress would have been more harsh on him if he had appeared but refused to answer questions, instead of failing to appear at all.

Five circuit court judges did not agree with this argument, with Judge Brad Garcia writing: “As Bannon sees it, then, a conviction for failing to appear at all would require a showing of bad faith, but a conviction for appearing and refusing to answer relevant questions would not. I am skeptical that Congress intended to enact such a scheme. Imagine a witness who genuinely believed his lawyer’s advice that a privilege justified refusing to testify on subjects listed in a subpoena.

“On Bannon’s reading, that witness could not be convicted if he declined to appear before a congressional committee altogether. Yet he could be convicted if he appeared but declined to answer specific questions based on the same advice. That construction makes little sense.”

The dissenting judges argued that Bannon’s interpretation of “willfully” is an important legal question, and said that Bannon was protecting documents from the White House covered by executive privilege—the ability for someone within the executive branch to withhold confidential information from Congress—when refusing the subpoena.

Bannon has already been pardoned by Trump in the last days of his first term in 2021 over the former’s fraud charges, for which he was awaiting trial. He was set to go to court over allegedly defrauding donors for Trump’s 2016 “We Build the Wall” campaign.

The 2021 presidential pardon only covered his federal charges. In February 2025, Bannon pleaded guilty to his New York State charge of defrauding donors who gave money toward building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon was found to have diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors to associates. Bannon’s plea deal resulted in him avoiding jail time.

What People Are Saying

DC Circuit Judge Brad Garcia’s concurring remarks: “Bannon has not tenably explained why Congress would pass a law that encourages less-cooperative conduct. His reading is especially perplexing given that the purpose of the contempt-of-Congress statute is to facilitate congressional inquiry…Common-sense arguments support the long-settled interpretation of “willfully” in this statute. And Bannon’s reading is not necessary to give that term meaning. Those considerations further support our denial of rehearing en banc.”

DC Circuit Judge Neomi Rao for the dissent: “Stephen Bannon, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, invoked executive privilege and refused to comply with a legislative subpoena seeking information about the events of January 6. He was convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and imprisoned. A panel of this court affirmed Bannon’s convictions. I would grant rehearing en banc because Bannon’s petition raises questions of exceptional importance.”

What Happens Next

Bannon has served his time in prison for these charges and will not be serving time for his separate guilty plea from earlier in 2025.