Steve Bannon will stand trial on two felony counts for failing to cooperate with the House investigation of January 6, 2021, 10 months after receiving subpoenas from the select committee.
His process begins Monday with jury selection in federal court in Washington, DC.
Trump’s polarizing longtime ally has always been at the top of the January 6 witness list for House investigators. But Justice Department prosecutors say the trial is aimed at punishing Bannon for failing to comply with subpoenas, rather than coercing him to share information.
The case is a great test of the leverage that Congress has when a witness avoids a subpoena from the House. Bannon’s is the first of two similar cases of subpoenas to selected House committees to be tried; a contempt case against former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is still in its early stages.
Bannon’s trial is also of particular relevance to the House panel, which continues to negotiate calling additional witnesses and prepares for a major prime-time hearing on Thursday night designed to highlight what committee members called Former President Donald Trump’s “abandonment of duty” on January 6, 2021.
Prosecutors promise that his case against Bannon will be presented succinctly, in just a few days, with just two or three prosecution witnesses. That list includes House committee investigators.
It is unknown how extensive Bannon’s defense will be, or whether he will want to stand in his own defense. He will not be able to force members of the House to testify, the judge said.
Earlier in the case, Bannon vowed to make the suit the “misdemeanor from hell for (Attorney General) Merrick Garland, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (President) Joe Biden.”
But at a recent court hearing, his defense attorney, David Schoen, complained, “What’s the point of going to trial here if there’s no defense?”
Bannon — who accepted an 11-hour pardon from Trump in 2021 for facing wire fraud and money laundering charges in Manhattan federal court related to a border wall fundraising scheme — has made a number of attempts in court. in recent days to stop the trial, to form a further defense or to prepare for possible appeals.
So far, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols has sided with the Department of Justice over what evidence the jury can hear, cutting off Bannon’s ability to try to delay the advice his attorney gave him or use the DOJ’s internal policies on advisers. presidential elections that he hoped could protect him.
In recent weeks, Trump has indicated that he wanted to waive any executive privileges that might apply to Bannon, and Bannon has suggested he might be interested in speaking to the House committee — a series of events that Bannon’s team now wants to try to show to the House. jury president.
But its ability to make arguments about executive privileges will be severely limited at best. Bannon was not a government official during the period the committee is investigating.
A federal grand jury indicted the right-wing figure in November on two counts of criminal contempt — one for failing to provide the testimony required by the House select committee subpoena in the fall and one for failing to produce documents.
A key question in the trial will be whether the jury agrees with prosecutors and the House that Bannon’s October subpoena deadlines were final and that he deliberately disregarded them.
Both of the charges he faces are misdemeanors. But if he is found guilty, each carries a mandatory minimum of 30 days in prison.
Bannon was one of the first potential January 6 witnesses subpoenaed by the House committee — and he is one of the few people the committee has held in contempt. The committee said it wanted to obtain its documents and ask questions because Bannon had contacted Trump, was in the Trump Allies’ so-called war room at the Willard hotel in Washington as the riot unfolded, and made a prediction on his podcast ahead of the event. riot that “all hell” would “break loose”.
“In short, Mr. Bannon appears to have played a multi-faceted role in the events of January 6, and the American people are entitled to hear his first-hand testimony about his actions,” the House committee said in its report introducing a contemplated resolution against Bannon.
When Bannon was facing deadlines in October, his attorney Robert Costello told the committee that Bannon would not cooperate with the investigation because of instructions from Trump that he should, “when appropriate, invoke whatever immunities and privileges he may have.”
Since then, criminal investigators have interviewed Costello, as well as Trump attorney Justin Clark, in building their case. As per the description of Clark’s statements, he told Costello that Trump could not protect Bannon from total failure to comply with the subpoenas.
Prior to Bannon’s trial, the House committee presented details about him in some of his public presentations. At a hearing last Tuesday, the committee revealed White House telephone records indicating that Bannon and Trump spoke twice on January 5, 2021, including once before Bannon made his predictions about the next day on the podcast.
The committee has another hearing planned for prime time on Thursday night. Depending on the pace of proceedings in D.C. federal court and the length of his defense presentation and jury deliberations, Bannon’s trial may be over by then.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
