Attorney General Merrick Garland made no commitment to prosecute former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on contempt of Congress charges, telling a House committee Thursday that the Justice Department would "apply the facts and the law."

Garland's testimony came just before the full House voted to hold the former Trump strategist in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by a select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

"The Department of Justice will do what it always does in such circumstances. It will apply the facts and the law and make a decision consistent with the principles of prosecution," the attorney general told the House Judiciary Committee at a previously scheduled oversight hearing.

CONTEMPT:Steve Bannon held in contempt of Congress. The last time such a case was successfully prosecuted? Watergate

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A referral sets up a unique test for Garland's Justice Department which has repeatedly asserted its independence from the White House, even as President Joe Biden has said he believed witnesses who defy the committee's requests should be prosecuted.

Biden's brief remarks on the matter last week brought a swift response from the department.

"The Department of Justice will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law. Period. Full stop," Justice spokesman Anthony Coley said then.

Garland responded to questions about Bannon's potential legal jeopardy at the start of the House hearing where Republicans largely seized on an entirely unrelated issue: a memo issued earlier this month by the attorney general directing the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with local leaders about threats to school officials.

Republican lawmakers suggested that Garland's memo cast parents who objected to curriculum decisions and policies related to coronavirus protections as "domestic terrorists."

Garland rejected the assertions, saying the memo imposed no restrictions on parents who were free to raise questions and disagree on decisions involving their children.

"I do not believe parents should be classified as domestic terrorists," the attorney general said, adding that the FBI and federal prosecutors were concerned only with violence and threats of violence directed at school personnel.

Bannon as a warning?
In the case of Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist for the first few months of the Trump presidency, lawmakers have cited him for contempt for ignoring subpoenas from the Jan. 6 panel seeking documents and testimony about the deadly assault on the Capitol carried out by a pro-Trump mob.

The select committee voted unanimously Tuesday to hold Bannon in contempt.

The panel has issued subpoenas to several other figures from Trump's orbit, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and longtime Trump social media director Dan Scavino, with the aim of pressing them on what they knew before the attack.

Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has warned that if others choose not to comply, they will face similar contempt charges.

“I want other witnesses to understand something very plainly: If you’re thinking of following the path Mr. Bannon has gone down, you’re on notice that this is what you’ll face” Thompson said.