Judge declines to dismiss Steve Bannon’s criminal contempt conviction

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., declined a request from the Justice Department to dismiss the contempt of Congress conviction for Trump ally Steve Bannon, telling prosecutors in a ruling Wednesday that they will need to come back with a better explanation if they want to clear Bannon’s record. 

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2019, faulted prosecutors for failing to comply with local rules that requires them to explain their motivations for dismissing the indictment against Bannon. 

Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief White House strategist during Trump’s first term, was convicted in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He served four months in prison in 2024. 

In February, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, under the leadership of Trump ally Jeanine Pirro, moved to dismiss Bannon’s indictment while he was seeking to appeal his conviction before the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court in April vacated the charges against Bannon and returned the case to a lower court for dismissal. 

Nichols’ ruling Wednesday notes that his denial of the DOJ’s request for dismissal is “without prejudice,” meaning he will give prosecutors another shot to offer a fuller explanation for why the case against Bannon should be dismissed.