Appeals Court Upholds Bannon’s Contempt Conviction

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s attempt to overturn his 2022 contempt of Congress conviction. 

For Context: Bannon was convicted of refusing a subpoena to testify and turn over documents to the House January 6th committee. While he was sentenced to four months in prison, he has remained out on bond while appealing his conviction. 

Key Quote: In a 20-page ruling, three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said: “[Bannon] argues that the district court erroneously defined the mental state required for a contempt of Congress charge, that his conduct was affirmatively authorized by government officials, that the Select Committee’s subpoena was invalid to begin with, and that the trial court should not have quashed certain trial subpoenas that sought to develop evidence for his defense. As explained below, each challenge lacks merit.”

How the Media Covered It: Coverage appeared more common in left and center-rated mainstream political outlets; Fox News (Right bias) did not appear to cover the story by Friday afternoon. Coverage from left-rated outlets was more likely to add the context that Bannon has “continued to spread false claims about the 2020 election”; MSNBC (Left bias) went further, saying he “has continued to spread election-denying conspiracy theories on his podcast.” Outlets sympathetic to Bannon painted a different picture; The National Pulse (Right bias), which advertises exclusive content from Bannon, cast him as the victim of “far-left congressional activists” who “had sought to coerce Bannon into testifying against President Donald J. Trump and the MAGA movement.”