Justice Department Moves to Dismiss Bannon Case

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Feb. 9 moved to dismiss its criminal case against the former adviser to President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, related to his refusal to testify before the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, US Capitol riots.

The "government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” wrote U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, in a filing to a lower court judge requesting to dismiss the indictment against Bannon with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled. “Defendant Bannon does not oppose this motion,” the filing additionally stated.

Bannon, former White House chief strategist and ally of President Trump, was convicted in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress after declining to adhere to a subpoena that required him to appear before the House committee that investigated the incident, as well as for failing to produce documents requested by the panel.

Bannon served four months in federal prison in 2024 as a result.

Concurrently, DOJ Solicitor John D. Sauer asked the Supreme Court to vacate an appellate judgment that upheld Bannon’s sentence and instead revert it to the district court for it to be dismissed. The request comes after Bannon requested the Supreme Court to hear his appeal for his sentence earlier in 2025, with the Trump administration’s response deadline being Feb. 9.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche commented on the request to the Supreme Court, deeming it an effort to “undo the prior administration’s weaponization of the justice system.”

"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 stated on X.

Following his leadership in President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Bannon worked as a senior adviser and chief strategist for less than a year in the White House during President Trump’s first term.