Steve Bannon speaks during AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, December, 2025.Cheney Orr/Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for the Justice Department to move forward with dismissing a criminal case in which Steve Bannon, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was convicted after defying a congressional subpoena.
The department’s decision to drop Mr. Bannon’s case was one of multiple actions it has taken that have benefited allies and supporters of the Republican president since Mr. Trump returned to office last year.
Mr. Bannon was convicted by a jury in Washington in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents or testimony to a Democratic-led House of Representatives panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court’s decision to uphold Mr. Bannon’s conviction.
Mr. Trump’s Justice Department, in urging the Supreme Court to toss the lower court’s decision, told the justices in court papers it has determined that dismissal of Mr. Bannon’s case “is in the interests of justice.” The department already had filed a motion to dismiss the case at the trial court level.
After the Supreme Court in 2024 denied Mr. Bannon’s request to keep him out of prison while his appeal played out, he served a four-month sentence at a low-security federal facility in Danbury, Conn.
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M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for Mr. Bannon, welcomed the Supreme Court’s action on Monday.
“It has been one battle after another for five years, but today the Supreme Court vacated an unjust conviction, and in doing so validated a fundamental rule – like oil and water, politics and prosecution don’t mix,” Mr. Corcoran said.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Monday.
The Supreme Court, in a brief unsigned order, returned the case to the lower court for further consideration “in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment.”
The Capitol rioters had tried to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Mr. Trump in his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid. Mr. Bannon called the House committee’s probe and the charges brought against him by the Justice Department during Mr. Biden’s presidency politically motivated.
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Mr. Bannon, 72, served as a key adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his chief White House strategist in 2017 during Mr. Trump’s first term in office before a falling-out between them that was later patched up.
Mr. Bannon was released from prison a week before Mr. Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Mr. Bannon cast himself as a political prisoner and told reporters upon his release, “I am far from broken. I have been empowered by my four months at Danbury federal prison.” Mr. Bannon resumed hosting his “War Room” podcast.
A firebrand, Mr. Bannon helped articulate the “America First” right-wing populism and stout opposition to immigration that has helped define Mr. Trump’s presidency. Mr. Bannon has played an instrumental role in right-wing media and has promoted right-wing causes and candidates in the United States and abroad.
According to the House committee, Mr. Bannon spoke with Mr. Trump at least twice on the day before the Jan. 6 attack, attended a planning meeting at a Washington hotel, and said on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Lawyers for Mr. Bannon raised various legal arguments to contest the subpoena, including issues related to executive privilege, a legal principle that lets a president keep certain communications private, and the congressional committee’s authority to issue the subpoena.
Mr. Trump pardoned those who were convicted in connection with the Capitol riot, as well as his former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and dozens of other allies who were accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Mr. Bannon has faced other legal issues as well. He pleaded guilty in New York state court in February 2025 to a fraud charge after being accused by prosecutors of deceiving donors in 2019 in a private fundraising drive to support Mr. Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mr. Bannon avoided jail time in that case.
Mr. Trump in 2021 pardoned Mr. Bannon after he was indicted on federal charges also relating to the border wall fundraising. In another case, the Justice Department dropped criminal charges against Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the president’s co-defendants in a criminal case involving Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents after the end of his first term.
The department also agreed to pay US$1.25-million to settle a lawsuit by Mr. Trump’s ally and former national security adviser Michael Flynn in a case in which Mr. Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea for lying to the FBI about his talks with a Russian official.