Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's former adviser, was the first person to be charged by the Justice Department for contempt of Congress since 1983. As this news circulated on social media, many people noted that Bannon was the first person to be indicted by a grand jury on contempt of Congress charges in nearly 40 years. Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, wrote on Twitter: “Bannon’s is the first indictment for criminal contempt of Congress in nearly 40 years. It was well earned.”Legal analyst Elie Honig made a similar observation on CNN:>> @ElieHonig: "The Justice Department has not charged anyone with criminal contempt of congress in 38 years, since 1983." The New York Times writes: “The last person charged with criminal contempt of Congress, Rita M. Lavelle, a former federal environmental official under President Ronald Reagan, was found not guilty in 1983 of failing to appear at a congressional subcommittee hearing.

Source: New York Times November 12, 2021 23:27 UTC