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Tag: contempt of Congress

  • Appeals court rejects Steve Bannon’s quote to avoid of jail

    Appeals court rejects Steve Bannon’s quote to avoid of jail

    WASHINGTON — An appeals court rejected previous Trump consultant Steve Bannon’s demand to stay out of jail Thursday while he appeals his conviction on contempt of Congress charges.

    The three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected Bannon’s demand in a 2-1 judgment, with 2 judges choosing that the arguments in Bannon’s demand do not provide a “significant concern” of law that might reverse his conviction.

    “Bannon’s proposition—that to show willful default the federal government should develop that the witness understood that his conduct was illegal—cannot be fixed up with the Supreme Court’s technique to the statute,” stated the order by Judges Cornelia Pillard and Bradley Garcia.

    A 3rd judge, Justin Walker, dissented, composing that arguments about Bannon’s frame of mind when he declined to adhere to a subpoena from your home Jan. 6 committee provided a “close concern” that might be chosen in Bannon’s favor by the Supreme Court.

    “That close concern might well have actually mattered at Bannon’s trial,” Walker composed.

    Bannon was purchased this month to report to jail on July 1. In previous filings before the D.C. Circuit, his attorneys revealed their intent to look for remedy for the Supreme Court if the appeals court panel ruled versus them.

    Bannon’s group submitted the not successful emergency situation movement on June 11 asking the federal appeals court to overthrow a lower court’s judgment that he should report to jail in July.

    Bannon’s legal representative Trent McCotter did not right away react to an ask for remark Thursday night.

    An attorney who has actually formerly represented Bannon, David Schoen, stated he “gave up the case last Tuesday” after he saw the movement at problem had actually been submitted, stating he “had absolutely nothing to do with the movement.”

    An appeals court in Might maintained Bannon’s conviction on 2 counts of contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena for files connected to the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. He was founded guilty in 2022 and sentenced to 4 months in jail.

    This post was initially released on NBCNews.com

  • Appeals court panel declines to postpone Trump ally Steve Bannon’s 4-month contempt jail sentence

    Appeals court panel declines to postpone Trump ally Steve Bannon’s 4-month contempt jail sentence

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday declined longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon‘s quote to avoid of jail while he battles his conviction for defying a subpoena from your house committee that examined the U.S. Capitol attack.

    Bannon is expected to report to jail by July 1 to start serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

    U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was chosen to the bench by Trump, previously this month gave district attorneys’ demand to send out Bannon to jail after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit supported his conviction.

    Bannon’s legal representatives had actually asked the appeals court to permit him to stay totally free while he continues to combat the conviction all the method as much as the Supreme Court, if needed. However in a 2-1 vote, the D.C. Circuit panel stated Bannon’s case “does not require a departure from the basic guideline” that accuseds start serving their sentence after conviction.

    Judge Justin Walker dissented, composing that Bannon needs to not need to go to jail before the Supreme Court chooses whether to use up his case.

    Bannon is anticipated to ask the Supreme Court to ward off his jail sentence. His lawyers didn’t right away react to an e-mail looking for remark Thursday.

    He was founded guilty almost 2 years ago of 2 counts of contempt of Congress: one for declining to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 Home Committee and the other for declining to supply files associated with his participation in efforts by Trump, a Republican politician, to reverse his 2020 governmental election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

    Bannon’s legal representative at trial argued that the previous Trump consultant didn’t neglect the subpoena however was still participated in good-faith settlements with the congressional committee when he was charged. The defense has actually stated Bannon had actually been counting on the recommendations on his lawyer, who thought that Bannon couldn’t affirm or produce files due to the fact that Trump had actually conjured up executive advantage.

    Attorneys for Bannon state the case raises major legal concerns that will likely require to be dealt with by the Supreme Court however he will have currently completed his jail sentence by the time the case arrives.

    In court documents, Bannon’s legal representatives likewise argued that there is a “strong public interest” in permitting him to stay totally free in the run-up to the 2024 election due to the fact that Bannon is a leading consultant to Trump’s project.

    Bannon’s legal representatives stated the Justice Department, in attempting to imprison him now, is “offering a look that the federal government is attempting to avoid Mr. Bannon from completely helping with the project and speaking up on crucial concerns, and likewise making sure the federal government exacts its pound of flesh before the possible end of the Biden Administration.”

    District attorneys stated in court documents that Bannon’s “function in political discourse” is unimportant.

    “Bannon likewise cannot reconcile his claim for unique treatment with the bedrock concept of equivalent justice under the law,” district attorneys composed. “Even-handed application of the bail statute needs Bannon’s ongoing detention.”

    A 2nd Trump assistant, trade consultant Peter Navarro, is currently serving his four-month jail sentence for contempt of Congress. Navarro, too, has actually stated he couldn’t comply with the committee due to the fact that Trump had actually conjured up executive advantage. The judge disallowed him from making that argument at trial, nevertheless, discovering that he didn’t reveal Trump had really invoked it.

    Your House Jan. 6 committee’s last report asserted that Trump criminally participated in a “multi-part conspiracy” to reverse the legal outcomes of the 2020 election and stopped working to act to stop his fans from assaulting the Capitol, concluding a remarkable 18-month examination into the previous president and the violent insurrection.

  • DOJ will not prosecute Merrick Garland after Home GOP held him in contempt over Biden tapes

    DOJ will not prosecute Merrick Garland after Home GOP held him in contempt over Biden tapes

    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department validated Friday, as anticipated, that Chief law officer Merrick Garland will not deal with charges after Home Republicans voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for decreasing to supply audiotapes of President Joe Biden that are safeguarded by executive benefit.

    “As you understand, the President asserted executive benefit and directed the Chief law officer not to launch products subpoenaed by the Home Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Responsibility (Committees) associated to the examination carried out by Unique Counsel Robert K. Hur,” Assistant Attorney General Of The United States Carlos Felipe Uriarte composed in a letter to Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Friday.

    Image: Attorney General Garland Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images file)

    Image: Attorney General Of The United States Garland Affirms Before Home Appropriations Committee (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images file)

    “The longstanding position of the Department is that we will not prosecute an authorities for contempt of Congress for decreasing to supply subpoenaed details topic to a governmental assertion of executive benefit, as described in our May 16, 2024, letter to the Committees,” Uriarte composed. “Throughout administrations of both political celebrations, we have actually regularly followed the position that ‘the contempt of Congress statute was not planned to use and might no constitutionally be used to an Executive Branch authorities who asserts the President’s claim of executive benefit.”

    The letter kept in mind that then-Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross were not prosecuted after your house voted to hold them in contempt in 2019. In 2022, the Justice Department likewise decreased to prosecute previous Trump White Home authorities Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, who did not work together with the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoenas.

    Congress currently has a records of Biden’s interview with Hur, who examined the president’s handling of categorized files. Hur decreased to prosecute Biden, composing in his report that a person factor not to move forward with the case was that Biden would be supportive to a jury since he might represent himself as an “senior guy with a bad memory.” Hur likewise stated the proof his group collected “does not develop Mr. Biden’s regret beyond a sensible doubt.”

    Garland composed last month that offering the recordings to Congress “would raise an undesirable danger of weakening the Department’s capability to carry out comparable prominent criminal examinations — in specific, examinations where the voluntary cooperation of White Home authorities is extremely essential.” He informed press reporters that launching audiotapes “would damage our capability in the future to effectively pursue delicate examinations.”

    Garland pressed back at Republican attacks on the judicial system and DOJ, calling them “extraordinary” and “unproven” throughout a hearing before your house Judiciary Committee this month. The Justice Department, he stated, “will not pull back from protecting democracy.

    Johnson’s workplace did not instantly react to an ask for remark.

    This short article was initially released on NBCNews.com

  • Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for contempt, states rejection to supply audio wasn’t criminal activity

    Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for contempt, states rejection to supply audio wasn’t criminal activity

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department states Attorney general of the United States Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted for contempt of Congress after declining to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified files case due to the fact that his actions “did not make up a criminal offense.”

    A Justice Department authorities stated that in a letter to Republican politician Home Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday after your house voted to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for declining to turn over audio.

    On the last day to adhere to the Republicans’ subpoena for the audio, the White Home obstructed the release by conjuring up executive advantage. It stated that Republicans in Congress just desired the recordings “to slice them up” and utilize them for political functions.

    Administrations of both significant political celebrations have actually long held the position that authorities who assert a president’s claim of executive advantage can’t be prosecuted for contempt of Congress, a Justice Department authorities informed Republicans last month.

    The 216-207 vote fell along celebration lines, with Republicans coalescing behind the contempt effort regardless of bookings amongst a few of the celebration’s more centrist members. Just one Republican politician, Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, voted versus it.

    Garland is the 3rd chief law officer to be held in contempt of Congress. However it was anticipated that the Justice Department,which Garland supervises, would not prosecute him.

  • Home Republican politicians Hold Merrick Garland In Contempt Of Congress

    Home Republican politicians Hold Merrick Garland In Contempt Of Congress

    WASHINGTON ― Republicans on Wednesday held U.S. Chief law officer Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, a symbolic rebuke of the country’s leading police authorities.

    Garland declined to turn over tapes of President Joe Biden’s October 2023 interview with previous unique counsel Robert Hur throughout Hur’s examination of Biden’s mishandling of categorized details after he was vice president.

    As Hur discussed in his report, one factor he chose versus prosecuting Biden is that the president would’ve come off to a jury as an “senior male with a bad memory.”

    The Justice Department had actually currently made the interview records public, however Republicans stated they require the audio to examine its precision.

    “The records alone are not enough proof of the state of the president’s memory,” Home Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) stated before the vote.

    And Home Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) informed press reporters last month that he believed the records might have been modified by a Justice Department that apparently safeguards the Bidens.

    “We have every factor to question a few of the important things that they would do,” Comer stated. “Somebody has actually secured this household for lots of, several years.”

    However ifthe Justice Department modified the records to safeguard Biden, nevertheless, it didn’t do a terrific task. Biden at one point has a hard time to position the year of his own child’s death in a series of significant life occasions that included his choice not to run for president in 2016.

    Contempt resolutions normally ask the Justice Department to prosecute the individual held in contempt — a not likely result in Garland’s case. Biden has actually asserted executive opportunity over the raw audio, and Garland stated launching it would prevented future witnesses from working together with examinations like Biden did.

    Jordan stated the contempt resolution would likely end up in court.

    Home Republicans released subpoenas for Hur’s investigative products as part of their impeachment query versus Biden, which has actually primarily concentrated on whether the president took part in his child’s abroad organization offers. With real posts of impeachment looking not likely,the Garland contempt vote might be the climax of the impeachment effort.

    “This contempt vote is MAGA Republicans’ desperate effort to preserve one’s honor following their lots of stopped working examinations,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) stated throughout dispute before the vote. “They assured Trump and the American individuals that they would impeach President Biden, however after investing more than $20 million examining conspiracy theories, MAGA Republicans have absolutely nothing to reveal for it.”

    Both your home judiciary and oversight committees authorized contempt resolutions versus Garland. The oversight committee’s markup will reside in infamy as one of the most disorderly committee conferences of perpetuity, afterRep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) insulted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) “bleach blonde, bad-built butch body.”

  • Appeals court upholds Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress

    Appeals court upholds Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress

    WASHINGTON — A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld Steve Bannon’s conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress.

    Bannon was convicted after a trial in 2022 and sentenced to four months in prison. The trial judge, however, stayed Bannon’s sentence, allowing him to remain free pending his appeal.

    Bannon still has the option of asking the full bench of the D.C. Circuit to hear his case, or he can petition the Supreme Court for review.

    An order issued by the D.C. Circuit said the judges’ mandate will not officially take effect until seven days after further appeal attempts are resolved. That means Bannon is unlikely to have to report to prison immediately.

    In a statement Friday night, Bannon’s attorney said he will be asking the full D.C. Circuit to hear his case.

    “Mr. Bannon will now seek redress before the full Court of Appeals,” David I. Schoen said. “That is the next step.”

    “There are many fundamentally important constitutional issues at stake in this case,” Schoen also said. “Today’s decision is wrong as a matter of law and it reflects a very dangerous view of the threshold for criminal liability for any defendant in our country and for future political abuses of the congressional hearing process.”

    Bannon, who was an aide to former President Donald Trump, was convicted in July of 2022 when a jury found him guilty of two contempt of Congress charges for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued by the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

    Arguing before the appeals court last fall in an effort to overturn the four-month prison sentence, Bannon’s attorney asserted that his client couldn’t comply with those subpoenas because Trump had invoked executive privilege. In addition to jail time, Bannon was fined $6,500.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • Maddow Blog | Appeals court ruling on his conviction adds to Bannon’s troubles

    Maddow Blog | Appeals court ruling on his conviction adds to Bannon’s troubles

    Nearly two years after Steve Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress, the right-wing operative/podcaster hoped an appeals court would undo what a jury already did. As my MSNBC colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim explained, that was wishful thinking.

    It was not a close call: The three-judge panel, which included a Trump appointee, was unanimous and categorical in its ruling.

    What’s more, this adds to Bannon’s larger list of troubles: The far-right podcaster is also slated to stand trial in New York City in September on charges related to his role in the “We Build the Wall” operation. In that case, Bannon is accused of helping defraud donors. (Coincidentally, Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial, is overseeing Bannon’s other case, too.)

    Bannon also faced federal criminal charged four years ago, though he received a pardon from Trump on the former president’s last day in office.

    As for today’s case, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.

    The one thing everyone involved in the process can agree on is that Bannon has important insights related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was in communications with Trump in the runup to the insurrectionist riot, and he reportedly told the outgoing president, “[I]t’s time to kill the Biden presidency in the crib.”

    The day before the attack, Bannon seemed to know quite a bit about what was likely to happen, telling his podcast listeners, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this: All hell is going to break loose tomorrow…. [A]ll I can say is: Strap in. You have made this happen, and tomorrow it’s game day.”

    With this in mind, it hardly came as a surprise when the bipartisan House committee investigating the attack issued subpoenas in September 2021, seeking information from key Trump insiders — and Bannon was at the top of the list.

    When he refused to comply in any way, the House approved a resolution finding the GOP operative in contempt of Congress. As part of the same process, the Democratic-led chamber referred the matter to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution, and in November 2021, Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury, charged with one count of contempt and another involving his refusal to produce documents, despite a congressional subpoena.

    The criminal trial didn’t go especially well for the defendant: Bannon’s defense team called no witnesses, and the accused never took the stand. The jury only deliberated for about three hours before finding him guilty.

    A few months later, a federal judge — who was also appointed by Trump — sentenced Bannon to four months behind bars, though the jurist said he could remain free while the appeals process continued.

    All of which led to today’s ruling, which wasn’t the outcome the podcaster was hoping for.

    So what happens now? The defendant’s options have narrowed considerably: As Clarissa-Jan’s report added, Bannon “has seven days to ask the full D.C. Circuit to hear his appeal or take his case to the Supreme Court.” There is no reason to expect either outcome to offer him the relief he’s looking for.

    What’s more, neither option is likely to extend the process long enough to make another Trump pardon a realistic possibility.

    With this in mind, Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst, concluded this morning, “Bannon is going to prison.”

    This post updates our related earlier coverage.

    This article was originally published on MSNBC.com



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  • Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress upheld

    Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress upheld

    A federal appeals court has upheld Steve Bannon’s conviction for defying a Jan. 6 House committee subpoena.

    In a 20-page ruling Friday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed each of Bannon’s four challenges to his conviction as without merit. Judge Bradley Garcia wrote in the ruling:

    Bannon, a Trump White House senior aide who has continued to spread election-denying conspiracy theories on his podcast, was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022 for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. He was sentenced to four months in prison, but his sentence has been suspended as his appeal proceeded.

    Still, Bannon likely won’t be reporting to prison right away. He has seven days to ask the full D.C. Circuit to hear his appeal or take his case to the Supreme Court.

    Another Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, was sentenced last year to four months in prison after similarly defying a subpoena by the Jan. 6 select committee. Navarro reported to prison in March, having repeatedly appealed his case to the Supreme Court to no avail.

    This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

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  • Supreme Court rejects Peter Navarro’s long-shot prison release bid

    Supreme Court rejects Peter Navarro’s long-shot prison release bid

    Peter Navarro is staying locked up, after the Supreme Court rejected his bid to stay out while he appeals his contempt conviction. It’s the former Trump White House adviser’s second such rejection in as many months.

    How is that even possible, you might wonder?

    Recall that Navarro was sentenced in January to four months’ imprisonment for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee. Trying to stay free pending appeal, he filed an application to Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency requests from Washington courts. In a March 18 opinion, Roberts wrote that he saw no basis to side with Navarro, who then reported to prison. Though he could have done so, the chief justice apparently didn’t feel the need to involve his colleagues, which prolonged the matter in retrospect.

    That’s because Navarro subsequently asked for a redo at the beginning of this month — from a different justice, Neil Gorsuch. He was allowed to try, but the odds of success were low, to put it generously.

    Those long odds were confirmed Monday morning, when his bid was rejected again. This time, unlike Roberts, Gorsuch referred the matter to the full court, setting up for a definitive resolution. And this time, there was no explanation accompanying Navarro’s loss. Roberts’ colleagues likely felt that the chief justice already said all that needed to be said, or perhaps that nothing needed to be said in the first place.

    To be sure, this doesn’t mean that the Supreme Court is done with Navarro. His underlying appeal attacking his conviction is still pending in the Washington federal appeals court. If he loses there, he may press on to the justices. By then, of course, he’ll have long been released. The Federal Bureau of Prisons lists his release date as July 17. Navarro said in his bid to Gorsuch that the briefing alone in his D.C. Circuit appeal won’t be done until July 19.

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    This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

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