The Justice Department declared Monday that Steve Bannon should serve six months behind bars and pay a $200,000 fine.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department declared Monday that Steve Bannon should serve six months behind bars and pay a $200,000 fine for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Justice Department statement comes after the committee took the extraordinary step last week to subpoena Trump himself, something panel members said was necessary to get the full story of what happened during and before last year's attack. It's unclear how Trump will respond to the summons. Refusal to comply could open up a similar path in court — though holding a former president in contempt would be an unprecedented and fraught process.
Bannon is to be sentenced Friday on the two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents. The committee had sought Bannon's testimony over his involvement in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump's own lawyer told Bannon's lawyer in October 2021 that he didn't believe there was immunity for him and the former president was not telling him to defy the subpoena, according to Monday's sentencing memo.