The House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold Trump ally and former advisor Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for ignoring a Congressional subpoena arising from the Jan. 6 insurrection investigation.
Lawmakers relayed their decision to the Department of Justice. Attorney General Merrick Garland must decide whether to formally prosecute Bannon.
“We’ll apply the facts in the law and make a decision, consistent with the principles of prosecution,” Garland told a House committee in a hearing on Thursday.
The 229-to-202 vote – and the passionate debate that preceded it – reflected stark partisan divisions between Democrats in Republicans in the lower chamber. Nine Republicans sided with the unanimous Democratic caucus.
GOP members attempted to whitewash and justify events and comments leading up to the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Bannon and his attorneys have argued that presidential executive privilege protects his communications with the former commander-in-chief.
“The plain fact here is that Mr. Bannon has no legal right to ignore the committee’s lawful subpoena,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice-chair of the House Select Committee, said Tuesday.
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