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The Justice Department on Monday asked the Supreme Court and a federal judge to dismiss the criminal contempt case against Steve Bannon, marking a rare reversal after Bannon was convicted and served a prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena tied to the Jan. 6 investigation.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General John Sauer said the government had concluded that dropping the case was warranted.
“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” Sauer wrote, adding that the Justice Department has also moved in federal district court to vacate the judgment and dismiss the indictment with prejudice.
The filing noted that federal law allows prosecutors to seek dismissal even after a jury conviction and final judgment.
Separately, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro asked a judge in Washington to throw out Bannon’s conviction and formally dismiss the indictment.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case stemmed from what he described as an improper use of prosecutorial power by the Democrat-led House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Today the Department of Justice told the Supreme Court that Steve Bannon’s conviction arising from the J6 ‘Unselect’ Committee’s improper subpoena should be vacated,” Blanche said in a statement. “Under the leadership of Attorney General Bondi, this Department will continue to undo the prior administration’s weaponization of the justice system.”
The request to dismiss the case caps a legal battle that began in 2021, when the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 issued a subpoena to Bannon demanding documents and testimony related to the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot.
Bannon, who served as a policy adviser to Donald Trump for part of 2017 but was a private citizen at the time of the subpoena, refused to comply. The House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress the following month.
In November 2021, federal prosecutors under the Biden administration secured a grand jury indictment charging Bannon with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. He was later convicted and served time in prison.
