The House of Representatives voted Thursday to find former adviser to President Trump Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S.

The matter now lands at the Justice Department, which will weigh whether to prosecute the former White House chief strategist.

Jonathan Shaub, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky law school, said the Justice Department has "traditionally not prosecuted individuals who are relying on executive privilege for criminal contempt of Congress.".

Last week, President Biden denied his predecessor's attempt to assert executive privilege for the documents the committee requested as part of its review, and the White House said it would give the panel access to federal records connected to the Trump White House and the January 6 insurrection. .

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday morning, Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers that it would handle the Bannon case and other potential referrals from the House select committee as "it always does in such circumstances." It will, he said, "apply the facts and the law and make a decision, consistent with the principles of prosecution." 

Should the Justice Department decline to bring charges, the committee can sue Bannon to try and compel his testimony

While that avenue would take more time, there are more recent examples, such as the House Judiciary Committee's 2019 lawsuit to compel former White House Counsel Don McGahn's testimony related to the Mueller Report