Jeanine Pirro Moves To Vacate Steve Bannon’s Contempt Conviction — DOJ Tells Supreme Court It Should Be Vacated

Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, filed a two-page Justice Department motion seeking to vacate the criminal conviction of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.

Motion Filed Without Career Prosecutors' Signatures

The motion, filed Monday and signed by Pirro, was notable because it lacked the signatures of career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office. In the filing Pirro asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the 2021 indictment against Bannon.

Bannon addressed the media at the federal prison in Connecticut before beginning his four-month sentence on July 1, 2024. / David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

'The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice. Defendant Bannon does not oppose this motion.'

Pirro, 74, is a former television judge and Fox News host who became D.C.'s chief federal prosecutor last year.

Background: Conviction, Sentence And Appeal

Judge Carl Nichols — also appointed by former President Trump — presided over Bannon's 2022 jury trial that led to convictions on two counts of contempt of Congress. Bannon, 72, completed a four-month federal prison sentence in October 2024.

“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” Pirro wrote in her motion. / Tom Williams/Getty Images

Lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee had sought to question Bannon about former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and about Bannon's communications with organizers of the 'Save America' rally that preceded the Capitol breach. After Bannon refused to comply with the committee subpoena, nine House Republicans joined all House Democrats to hold him in contempt of Congress, and federal prosecutors later charged him.

Following his conviction, Bannon petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the verdict, arguing the Jan. 6 committee lacked authority to issue the subpoena and that he relied in good faith on his attorney's advice to ignore it.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Monday that the DOJ told the Supreme Court that Bannon’s conviction should be vacated. / Todd Blanche/X

Department Of Justice Tells Supreme Court: Vacate The Conviction

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche informed the Supreme Court on Monday that the Justice Department has told the high court it believes Bannon's conviction should be vacated, attaching a brief filed by Solicitor General John Sauer.

Blanche posted on X that 'Under the leadership of Attorney General Bondi, this Department will continue to undo the prior administration's weaponization of the justice system.'

Trump praised Bannon in a Truth Social post last week. / Truth Social

If Judge Nichols grants Pirro's motion to dismiss the indictment, Bannon's pending Supreme Court appeal would likely become moot and his legal challenge would effectively come to an end, legal observers say.

New Scrutiny Over Epstein Ties And Public Reaction

Pirro's filing comes as recently released documents prompted fresh scrutiny of Bannon's previously reported association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, suggesting a more extensive relationship than earlier public reporting had indicated.

Former President Trump publicly praised Bannon and Peter Navarro — who was also convicted for defying the Jan. 6 committee's subpoena — in a Truth Social post last week: 'Two very good guys who were treated so unfairly by Sleepy Joe Biden. But now, they are bigger than ever!!!'

The situation remains fluid: the judge's response to Pirro's motion and any subsequent filings will determine whether Bannon's conviction is ultimately vacated.