Fake News: Media Erroneously Tweet Steve Bannon ‘Guilty’ Before Closing Arguments

Several journalists erroneously tweeted that Stephen K. Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon — before closing arguments in the trial Friday morning.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell tweeted: “BANNON GUILTY.” His colleague Chris Hayes tweeted “Bannon found guilty,” citing a tweet by CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who was covering a different case.

To avoid confusion on prior post. Matthew Bledsoe is convicted on all counts in Jan 6 case. Sentencing Oct 21. Pretrial release til then

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 21, 2022

Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace warned others that they were getting the facts wrong:

All those Bannon verdict tweets…aren't right.

— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) July 21, 2022

So, too, did Bannon biographer Joshua Green:

As an official Bannon-ologist(tm), I must point out that all the "Bannon guilty verdict" tweets are wrong…case hasn't gone to jury yet. Check back tomorrow! And if you need a Bannon fix in the meantime: https://t.co/YMvm13QYkq

— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) July 21, 2022

O’Donnell apologized for spreading the misinformation about the verdict, as did Hayes, taking down their mistaken tweets:

Sorry there is no Bannon verdict. Bannon declined to testify or present any defense witness. Closing arguments tomorrow.

— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) July 21, 2022

Whoops sorry! Wrong case. Bannon not back yet!

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 21, 2022

Others also apologized:

Apologies! Wrong case re: Bannon. NO VERDICT yet.

— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) July 21, 2022

Some, like the CBC’s Tom Harrington, Alex Salvi of Newsmax, and Carl Quintanilla of CNBC, simply deleted their tweets about the Bannon verdict without apparent further explanation (as of this writing).

Matt Ford of the New Republic tweeted that his “sources” claimed Bannon would be found guilty; he later explained that he had been making fun of a tweet by “Russia collusion” blogger Louise Mensch speculating that Bannon would be sentenced to death for espionage in 2017.

I was spoofing them but I guess not enough people remember the Mensch tweet.

— Matt Ford (@fordm) July 21, 2022

The defense rested on Thursday without presenting witnesses, moving for an acquittal and arguing the prosecution had failed to prove that Bannon, a former White House and Trump campaign aide, had willfully committed contempt of Congress.

Defense attorney David Schoen told reporters outside the courthouse that his client had been prevented from putting on a full defense by the judge, who barred the defense from questioning the legality of the subpoena Bannon is accused of defying.

Bannon lawyer David Schoen speaking now. Once the judge cut out the defenses in the case, Bannon “was never able to tell his story” pic.twitter.com/3qghRPuAU2

— Daniel Barnes (@dnlbrns) July 21, 2022

Bannon added his own commentary, noting that he had always testified before Congress, once executive privilege had been waived — which he said it had not been, in this case, until recently.

He closed: “I stand with Trump and the Constitution.”

Another Bannon speech outside the DC federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/vTPK83RDVM

— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) July 21, 2022

Bannon is also the former executive chairman of Breitbart News.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.