The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously on Tuesday night to recommend that former White House adviser Steve Bannon be held in contempt of Congress after the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena.

The measure now heads to the full House for a vote, which is expected on Thursday. If the House votes to approve, it would send the matter to the Justice Department, which would then decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Bannon.

Trump has aggressively tried to block the committee’s work by directing Bannon and others not to answer questions in the probe. Trump has also filed a lawsuit to try to prevent Congress from obtaining former White House documents.

But lawmakers have made clear they will not back down as they gather facts and testimony about the attack involving Trump’s supporters that left dozens of police officers injured, sent lawmakers running for their lives and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chair of the panel, said that Bannon "stands alone in his complete defiance of our subpoena."

"There isn't a different set of rules for Mr. Bannon," Thompson said. "He knows this. He knows there are consequences for outright defiance. And he's chosen the path toward criminal contempt by taking this position." 

The contempt resolution asserts that the former Trump aide and podcast host has no legal standing to rebuff the committee — even as Trump’s lawyer has argued that Bannon should not disclose information because it is protected by the privilege of the former president’s office. The committee noted that Bannon, fired from his White House job in 2017, was a private citizen when he spoke to Trump ahead of the attack. And Trump has not asserted any such executive privilege claims to the panel itself, lawmakers said.

"Mr. Bannon has no legal right to ignore the committee's lawful subpoena," Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel's vice chair and one of the few Republicans to serve on the committee, said, echoing Thompson.

"Mr. Bannon’s and Mr. Trump’s privilege arguments do appear to reveal one thing, however: They suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th. And we will get to the bottom of that," Cheney added.

Thompson said that the vote is about "whether the rule of law will be able to endure as a pillar of democracy."

"If you're thinking of following the path Mr Bannon has gone down, you are on notice that this is what you'll face," Thompson warned other witnesses, adding: "We won’t be deterred. We won’t be distracted. And we won’t be delayed."

Cheney issued a similar warning: "If other witnesses defy this Committee — if they fail to cooperate — we will be back in this room, with a new report, with the names of whoever else mistakenly believes they are above the law."

The committee says it is pursuing Bannon’s testimony because of his apparent role in the events of Jan. 6, including his communications with Trump ahead of the siege, his efforts to get the former president to focus on Jan. 6, the day Congress certified the presidential vote, and his comments on Jan. 5 that “all hell is going to break loose” the next day.

Bannon “appears to have had multiple roles relevant to this investigation, including his role in constructing and participating in the ‘stop the steal’ public relations effort that motivated the attack” and “his efforts to plan political and other activity in advance of January 6th,” the committee wrote in the resolution recommending contempt.

The Biden White House has rejected Bannon’s claims, with Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su writing Bannon’s lawyer this week to say that “at this point we are not aware of any basis for your client’s refusal to appear for a deposition.” Biden’s judgment that executive privilege is not justified, Su wrote, “applies to your client’s deposition testimony and to any documents your client may possess.”

Asked last week if the Justice Department should prosecute those who refuse to testify, Biden said yes. But the Justice Department quickly pushed back, with a spokesman saying the department would make its own decisions.

At a House Rules Committee hearing on Wednesday, Cheney said that while, in the past, she has "been in this room late at night many times, really mad at Mr. McGovern," the committee's Democratic chairman, "there comes a moment where we have to recognize institutions of this republic do not defend themselves."

Cheney said that Bannon's "refusal to cooperate in any way must be met with consequences."

"Let me address my Republican colleagues specifically," Cheney said to the members of her own party, who ousted her from House GOP leadership for her outspokenness against former President Trump. "I've heard from a number of my colleagues in the last several days who say they 'just don't want this target on their back.' They're just trying to keep their heads down."

"They don't want to anger [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy," Cheney continued, "who has been especially active in attempting to block the investigation of events of Jan. 6th, despite the fact that he clearly called for such a commission the week after the attack."

"I ask each one of you to step back from the brink," Cheney said. "I urge you to do what you know is right, to think of the long arc of history. We are told that it bends towards justice, but it does so only because of the actions of men and women in positions of public trust."

California Rep. Norma Torres, a Democrat, said that while she previously opposed Cheney on "every single vote, every single day," she is "so proud, you know, to call you a colleague, that you are trying like the rest of us to figure out what happened" on Jan. 6.

While Bannon has said he needs a court order before complying with his subpoena, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House and Pentagon aide Kashyap Patel have been negotiating with the committee. It is unclear whether a fourth former White House aide, Dan Scavino, will comply.

The committee has also subpoenaed more than a dozen people who helped plan Trump rallies ahead of the siege, and some of them are already turning over documents and giving testimony.

The vote came one day after Trump sued the committee and the National Archives to fight the release of documents the committee has requested. Trump’s lawsuit, filed after Biden said he’d allow the documents’ release, claims that the panel’s August request was overly broad and a “vexatious, illegal fishing expedition.” Trump’s suit seeks to invalidate the entirety of the congressional request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a challenge to separation of powers. It requests a court injunction to bar the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, in clearing the documents for release, said the violent siege of the Capitol more than nine months ago was such an extraordinary circumstance that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.