US: Jury finds Trump ex-adviser Bannon guilty of contempt of Congress

The jury in the trial of Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's former presidential adviser, reached a verdict on Friday on criminal charges of contempt of Congress for rebuffing a subpoena from the committee investigating last year's attack on the US Capitol, a court official said.

The verdict will be announced in federal court in Washington. The 12 jurors, eight men and four women, began deliberations earlier on Friday after hearing closing arguments in which prosecutors urged them to convict Bannon for willfully and unlawfully defying the subpoena and the defence suggested Bannon was targeted for political reasons.

Bannon, 68, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanour counts after defying the Democratic-led House of Representative select committee's subpoena requesting testimony and documents as part of its inquiry into the Jan. 6, 2021, rampage by Trump supporters trying to undo the Republican's 2020 election defeat.

Prosecutor Molly Gaston told jurors the attack represented a "dark day" for America.

"There is nothing political about finding out why Jan. 6 happened and making sure it never happens again," Gaston said.

Bannon, Gaston added, showed disdain for Congress.

"He thought it was beneath him," Gaston added.

"The defendant made a deliberate decision not to comply and that, ladies and gentlemen, is contempt. It is a crime," Gaston said.

Evan Corcoran, one of Bannon's attorneys, told jurors that "there is no evidence in this case that Steve Bannon was involved at all" in the events of Jan. 6.

"The question is, 'Why? Why was Steve Bannon singled out?" Corcoran asked the jury.

"I ask you if this was in any way affected by politics," Corcoran added.

Corcoran tried to portray the key prosecution witness, senior committee staff member Kristin Amerling, as politically motivated. Corcoran also noted that Amerling was a member of a book club to which Gaston also belonged and that the two once worked together in the office of a Democratic congressman.

Amerling testified on Wednesday that Bannon disregarded the subpoena's two deadlines, sought no extensions and offered an invalid rationale for his defiance - a claim by Trump involving a legal doctrine called executive privilege that can keep certain presidential communications confidential.

"Even if you think in hindsight that the path that Mr. Bannon took and the path that his lawyer took ... turned out to be a mistake, it was not a crime," Corcoran told jurors.