The House has passed a resolution finding former President Donald Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. Lawmakers are asking the Department of Justice to criminally prosecute Bannon for refusing to cooperate with their probe into the January 6 Capitol riot.
The resolution passed on a 229-202 vote mostly along party lines on Thursday.
‘Steve Bannon has led us down this path by refusing to cooperate in any way with our investigation,’ said Democratic Rep Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House select committee investigating the insurrection, before the vote.
Bannon said in a podcast the day before the insurrection: ‘All hell is going to break loose tomorrow… So many people said, “Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington”. Well, this is your time in history.’
Bannon ignored the House committee’s subpoena for him to testify and provide documents on what he knew about the deadly riot. Bannon’s attorney argued that he does not need to abide by the subpoena because Trump could try to claim executive privilege.
Meanwhile, members of the committee say Bannon is obligated to testify and hand over documents.
‘Mr Bannon stands alone in his defiance and we will not stand for it,’ Thompson said. ‘We need to make it clear no person is above the law.’
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy urged fellow Republicans to vote against the contempt finding. McCarthy argued that the committee issued an ‘invalid subpoena’ partly because the committee is made up of mostly Democratic members.
The House vote comes three days after Trump sued the House select committee and the National Archives in an attempt to stop documents around January 6 from being released to the lawmakers investigating the matter.
Trump’s lawsuit filed in DC District Court claims executive privilege, which is the power of the president and executive branch officials to withhold some confidential correspondence from the legislative branch and courts.
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