Steve Bannon Just Surrendered to the FBI

The former top Trump adviser is facing two charges of contempt of Congress.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

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Trump guru Stephen K. Bannon surrendered to federal authorities on Monday morning after defying a subpoena from the select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

On Friday, the Department of Justice charged Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition and hand over documents to the select committee. The committee has also subpoenaed a series of big-name Trump administration officials and aides, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, conservative lawyer John Eastman, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and senior adviser Stephen Miller. 

Bannon’s decision to flout the committee’s subpoenas set a trend among high-level Trump aides, some of whom followed him in refusing to comply. After Bannon publicly defied the committee, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows failed to appear for a deposition the committee had ordered him to attend. 

As my colleagues Abigail Weinberg and Dan Friedman reported on Friday, Bannon’s indictment “may now spur cooperation from Meadows and others who have been subpoenaed.”

Bannon is expected to be arraigned in federal court later Monday afternoon.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

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