Legal Expert Warns J6 Witnesses Will Use Delay Tactics To Avoid Testimony
Subpoenas are typically understood not to be invitations for voluntary attendance and disclosure, but legal orders for mandatory appearance and testimony (because that’s actually what they are). Leave it to the Trump inner circle to reject this standard and treat a spate of subpoenas as a negotiable matter, though.
Steve Bannon is among the January 6th witnesses who are refusing to comply with Congressional subpoenas to testify about the information they had leading up to, during, and following the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building and Congress. The Committee to investigate that attack has promised legal enforcement of these subpoenas. However, Constitutional Professor Laurence Tribe is predicting that when enforcement efforts begin, the witnesses will still fight to prevent Congrss from getting answers and pursuing justice, by switching to delay tactics.
Bannon, regaled in multilayered shirts, will pretend not to defy the subpoena but just to be seeking judicial advice. That'll start the long slow walk that kills truth-seeking. Even a DOJ eager to prosecute contempt of Congress will find itself stymied by the protracted appeals. https://t.co/47OUm7DYzB
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) October 14, 2021
He says that he expects Bannon to cite a need for legal consultation before proceeding, followed by appeals and other tactics that will stretch the process out until it becomes untenable.
For those who can afford the cost of extended legal processes, the tactic isn’t unheard of. In fact, it’s one of the methods associated with Donald Trump himself, which he’s been accused of using to force opponents in legal battles to settle or give up. In fact, the Brennan Center For Justice laid out last year how he was using courts as a delaying tactic for conceding the election, and while it wasn’t a successful move to keep him in office, he convinced a lot of his fans — some of whom, in turn, participated in the very attack Congress is trying to investigate now.