A jury in Washington, D.C., on Thursday convicted former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon of two charges of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena.
However, one prominent lawyer believes a higher court could overturn the conviction.
In a conversation with Newsmax host Greta van Susteren, former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz discussed the case.
“This is entirely in violation of the Constitution,” Dershowitz said of the conviction. “The Supreme Court has never upheld contempt convictions against somebody who asserted executive privilege or some other form of constitutional privilege.”
Dershowitz predicted that a higher court will “very likely” overturn the conviction.
“So I think Steve Bannon is going to be just fine,” he said. “He may have to spend some money on lawyers, but he’s not going to spend any time in jail.”
Bannon faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each charge. Sentencing is set for June 9.
After being found guilty on both counts of criminal contempt of Congress, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon called out members of the Jan. 6th committee.
“I only have one disappointment, and that is the gutless members of that show-trial committee, that Jan. 6 committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify,” Bannon said. “We may have lost a battle here today, but we’re not going to lose this war.”
Bannon was referring to the fact that none of the members of the Jan. 6 committee were called to testify during his trial, despite prosecutors’ assertions that he had obstructed their investigation into the deadly Capitol riot.
“The jury came to their conclusion about what was put on in the courtroom. But listen, in the closing argument, prosecutors admitted that this was a show-trial,” Bannon said. “So I want to thank my lawyers for their tenacious defense.”
Bannon is facing up to two years in prison for each count of criminal contempt of Congress, though it is unclear if he will actually be sentenced to any jail time. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.
After being found guilty on all charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, Steve Bannon is lashing out at members of the House committee that helped investigate the incident.
Bannon’s attorney David Schoen responded to the verdict:
“They argued to the jury today that when a person gets a subpoena, and executive privilege is invoked, it’s for Congress to decide whether the executive privilege is valid and how broad it is. That’s absolutely false.”
“When a former president or a current president invokes executive privilege, it’s presumptively valid. It’s not for Congress to decide that is not valid.” Schoen said. “All they] had to prove was that he didn’t show up. That can’t be the standard in a case, especially in a case that holds the potential for a jail sentence.”
“The overreaching by the government in this case has been extraordinary on every level,” Schoen said. “Shame on this office of the United States Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice for how far it went in this case.”
Bannon himself took to Twitter to blast members of the House Oversight Committee, calling them “partisan hacks” and saying they had “no interest in the truth.”
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), responded by saying that Bannon was “nothing but a fraud” and that he “richly deserves” his conviction.
It’s unclear what the next steps will be for Bannon, but it’s clear that he is not going down without a fight.
