US moves to wipe out Stephen Bannon contempt of Congress case

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 9, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department took steps Monday to unwind the contempt of Congress case against Stephen Bannon, who already served four months in prison for a conviction that he has appealed to the Supreme Court.

A jury convicted the President Donald Trump ally in 2022 for his refusal to testify and provide documents to the House select panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the conviction in 2024.

On Monday, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, filed a motion seeking to dismiss the case against Bannon in a way that would mean it could not be brought again.

“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” Pirro wrote in the motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

And Solicitor General D. John Sauer, in a brief Monday in Bannon’s appeal at the Supreme Court, urged the justices to vacate the D.C. Circuit ruling and send the case back down to district court to manage that request for dismissal.

A federal rule of criminal procedure “allows the government to seek dismissal even after a jury finds the defendant guilty and the district court enters judgment,” Sauer wrote.

In a statement, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche criticized the House select panel that investigated the attack on the Capitol as “Unselect,” an echo of Trump’s previous attacks on the panel repeated as recently as Friday.

Blanche called the committee subpoena to Bannon that formed the basis of the conviction “improper” and said the conviction should be vacated.

“Under the leadership of Attorney General Bondi, this Department will continue to undo the prior administration’s weaponization of the justice system,” Blanche said.

At the Supreme Court, Bannon’s attorneys have urged the justices to decide two issues that he has pressed in his defense — whether the government must prove a defendant knew his conduct was unlawful and the whether the composition of the Jan. 6 panel affected its authority to issue subpoenas.

Bannon never testified but the committee made use of video clips and other records where Bannon said Trump intended to declare victory in the 2020 election regardless of the results on election night. After Bannon’s refusal to testify, the House voted to hold him in contempt.

In December, the DOJ declined to defend the contempt of Congress conviction of Peter Navarro on charges also related to the House select panel on Jan. 6. At the D.C. Circuit, Navarro’s attorney argued alone seeking to overturn his convictions.

Both Bannon and Navarro served four months in prison following their convictions.

The case is Stephen K. Bannon v. United States.

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