Steve Bannon’s Day In Court Is All Losses For Trump Ally
Steve Bannon may be the only member of Donald Trump’s inner circle to end up being tried for contempt of Congress over a refusal to cooperate with the January 6th Committee. As test cases go, though, his is turning out to be more of a red flag than an invitation to follow, for any other Trump allies considering the same route.
After months of refusing to cooperate with a Congressional subpoena, Bannon finally indicated that he would talk to the House Select Committee, barely a week before his trial date. He’d been refusing to do so, claiming a basis of “executive privilege” — which courts have not agreed that he has, at all. Now, he’s sharing a letter from Donald Trump, purporting to release him from his non-existent privilege and permit him to speak to the Committee, with a few caveats.
However, the Committee says he won’t be afforded any special treatment, and now his claim of cooperation has been shot down as a desperate measure to dodge his criminal contempt trial. At a Monday hearing, Bannon’s representation (Bannon himself was not present) argued for a delay in trial.
Live-tweeting the hearing, Politico‘s Kyle Cheney shared that the judge refused to delay Bannon’s July 18th trial.
NEWS: NICHOLS will NOT delay Bannon's July 18 trial.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
That’s not all though — Judge Carl Nichols also shot down many of Bannon’s proposed defenses, and ruled in favor of the Justice Department on multiple motions.
MORE: Nichols says Bannon cannot present evidence that he relied on internal DOJ opinions or assertions of executive privilege. Neither speaks to Bannon's deliberate decision not to comply with the select committee's subpoena.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
Nichols essentially says Bannon's only course of defense, essentially, is if he can argue that he misunderstood the subpoena's due date or believed, in a good-faith way, that it had been extended.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
He cut off Bannon’s claims that the House Committee is “illegitimate,” as well as any efforts to suggest that Bannon should not face trial since others who also refused to appear are not being held in contempt.
Even if Bannon hadn't waived the argument, Nichols rules the House's select committee procedures are "ambiguous" at worst, and that the House had repeatedly demonstrated its interpretation of those rules. The court/jury has no role interpreting the House's rules for it, he notes.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
Relatedly, Nichols denies Bannon's motion to obtain discovery related ot the DOJ declination decisions on Scavino and Meadows.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
(The January 6th Committee turned over multiple individuals to the Justice Department for contempt charges, but the DOJ did not choose to press charges against all of them.)
NBC reported back in April that the same judge had already told Bannon other defenses, including blaming his attorney, were off the table.
While Bannon did contact the January 6th Committee to indicate he’s willing to testify, it’s not clear if there have been any additional communications to actually plan that testimony.
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