DOJ Renews Push to Vacate Bannon Contempt Conviction

According to NBC News and a matching Thursday post from @NBCNews, the Justice Department moved Thursday to vacate Steve Bannon’s 2022 conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress tied to the House Select Committee’s January 6 investigation.

ABC News independently confirmed the same court filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. DOJ said dismissal is “in the interests of justice” as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, arguing it is not appropriate to keep pursuing contempt charges against a former presidential adviser who declined to comply with a January 6-related subpoena based on an asserted belief that executive privilege applied.

The Trump administration moves to vacate the conviction of Steve Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress in connection with its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. https://t.co/8tJ4LrD1N3

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 5, 2026

The renewed motion, signed by Deputy Associate Attorney General Michael Weisbuch, also says the United States “harbors significant doubts” about the fairness of Bannon’s trial and whether D.C. Circuit precedent improperly blocked him from arguing he did not “willfully” violate the contempt statute in light of that privilege claim, ABC News reported from the filing.

Bannon, White House chief strategist and senior counselor in President Trump’s first term, was convicted in 2022 for defying the Select Committee subpoena and served a four-month prison sentence in 2024, per NBC News and ABC News. His legal team did not oppose Thursday’s motion, NBC News reported.

This is not DOJ’s first try. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols — a Trump appointee who presided over the trial — rejected an earlier dismissal bid in August, saying prosecutors had not adequately explained their reasons. The Supreme Court had already sent the case back to Nichols after wiping out an appeals-court ruling that upheld the jury’s verdict, according to NBC News.

DOJ’s Thursday filing ties the move to President Trump’s broader break with Biden-era January 6 prosecutions. The department wrote that Trump has expressed “grave concerns” about those cases and granted a large number of pardons and commutations, and that seeking to affirm Bannon’s conviction is “inconsistent with this Administration’s enforcement priorities,” NBC and ABC both quoted.

For Daily Beltway readers, the filing is the receipts version of what conservatives have argued for years: contempt charges aimed at a former adviser who asserted executive privilege were political lawfare, not neutral justice. DOJ is now saying out loud that continuing the case does not match the administration’s priorities — and that it doubts the trial’s fairness. That is a primary-document shift, not pundit spin.

Still developing: Judge Nichols has not ruled on the renewed motion. Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter previously served as Bannon’s counsel; his name does not appear on the Justice Department filing, NBC News noted. Until Nichols acts, Bannon’s conviction remains on the books even though DOJ no longer wants to defend it.

Watch the order. If Nichols grants dismissal with prejudice, the Select Committee contempt case against Bannon ends. If he demands more briefing again, expect another round. Either way, Thursday’s filing — corroborated across NBC News, ABC News, and BURN VOC’s same-day write-up — is the same-day development: DOJ renewed the bid to vacate, Bannon’s team did not oppose, and the fairness/privilege arguments are now on the docket in writing.

Sources

• NBC News — DOJ moves to toss Steve Bannon contempt conviction
• @NBCNews on X — Bannon contempt conviction vacate report
• ABC News — DOJ again moves to dismiss Bannon contempt conviction
• BURN VOC — DOJ renews motion to dismiss Bannon contempt conviction

Reporting by Daily Beltway.