1/6 Committee Recommends Contempt Charge Against Bannon for Defying Subpoena

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously on Tuesday to refer a contempt of Congress charge against Steve Bannon to the full House.

Bannon is refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the committee. The day before the attack on the Capitol, Bannon said on a podcast, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (R-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) both spoke before the committee voted.

Cheney said that Bannon “appears to have detailed knowledge regarding the president’s efforts to sell millions of Americans the fraud that the election was stolen.”

After managing Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016, Bannon became a senior adviser to the president, but left the White House in 2017. It is unclear what kinds of communications Bannon had with Trump on or around January 6, and this is one of the matters the committee is investigating.

“In the words of many who participated in the January 6th attack, the violence that day was in direct response to President Trump’s repeated claims from election night through January 6th that he had won the election,” said Cheney. “The American people are entitled to Mr. Bannon’s firsthand testimony about all of these relevant facts.”

Along with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Cheney is one of two Republicans serving on the committee.