House votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for ignoring Jan. 6 subpoena

Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist for former President Donald Trump, could face prosecution by the Justice Department. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI Member of the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks to reporters outside the Capitol after the House voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of court Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI Member of the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., speaks to reporters outside the Capitol. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI Member of the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., leaves the Capitol after the House voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of court. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson questions witnesses during the first hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at the Canon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on July 27. File Photo by Chip Somodevilla/UPI Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., voted along with Democrats in favor of a resolution finding Steve Bannon to be in contempt. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI Former President Donald Trump instructed his former aides to defy a subpoena by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack at the Capitol. File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The House voted Thursday to hold Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to former President Donald Trump, in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena to testify.

The chamber voted 229-202 in favor of the resolution, which will refer a criminal contempt charge to the Justice Department. Nine Republicans voted with Democrats -- Reps. Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Nancy Mace, Fred Upton, Peter Meijer, John Katko, Brian Fitzpatrick, Anthony Gonzalez and Jaime Herrera Beutler.

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The Justice Department has full, independent authority to decide whether to enforce the prosecution.

"There isn't a different set of rules for Mr. Bannon," select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said "He knows this. He knows there are consequences for outright defiance. And he's chosen the path toward criminal contempt by taking this position."

"Mr. Bannon's own public statements make clear: he knew what was going to happen before it did ... The American people deserve to know what he knew, and what he did," added Cheney, who is ranking member of the select committee.

The vote comes two days after the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol also decided to hold Bannon in contempt.

Bannon ignored deadlines to produce documents related to his discussions wth Trump in the days before the violent insurrection in which radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as lawmakers were voting to certify Joe Biden's election victory.

Trump previously instructed Bannon and other fellow aides -- former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Daniel Scavino and former Defense Department official Kashyap Patel -- to defy subpoenas from the select committee, citing executive privilege.

According to subpoena documents, Bannon said on his radio show on Jan. 5 that "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow." He also allegedly spoke with Trump on Dec. 30 and urged him to focus on Jan. 6.

Bannon's attorney, Robert Costello, instructed him to ''invoke any immunities and privileges he may have from compelled testimony" about Jan. 6, including executive privilege, and said Bannon was "legally unable to comply," relying on the instructions of Trump to not disclose privileged information, according to the House resolution.

Don Jacobson contributed to this report.