The Jan. 6 House Select Committee will finally have the opportunity to hear from Steve Bannon after the former White House adviser refused to comply with subpoenas and requests for testimony.
Bannon argued executive privilege and refused to testify in front of the 1/6 committee, especially after their overarching plan became glaringly obvious.
Not only has Bannon agreed to testify after Trump waived executive privilege, but he demands to do so during one of the Jan. 6 Committee’s primetime show trials, according to a letter written by Bob Costello, Bannon’s attorney.
Whether they decide to accept Bannon’s request or not, the J6 committee now finds itself in a precarious situation. After all, they’ve been clamoring for Bannon’s testimony since the formation of the committee but they potentially put the whole investigation on the line by allowing him to publically testify.
Bannon, who is set to go on trial for criminal contempt charges later this month for defying a prior subpoena by the committee, but it’s still not known how his change of heart will affect those charges.
“While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his convictions, circumstances have now changed,” Costello wrote. “Mr. Bannon is willing to, and indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing.”
In a letter to Bannon on Saturday, Trump said that he was waiving executive privilege after seeing “how unfairly you and others have been treated.”
“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote, according to the outlet.
NEW: Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has opened discussions about appearing before the Jan. 6 committee, after the former president said in a letter dated Saturday that he would waive executive privilege over his testimony — story coming @GuardianUS pic.twitter.com/nLuJue5jye
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) July 10, 2022
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat member of the committee, acknowledged that the panel had received the letter from Bannon’s lawyer around midnight but said the committee hasn’t come to a decision.
It’s likely the committee will require Bannon to testify privately.
Justice Dept court filing overnight in Steve Bannon case:
"Defendant's last minute efforts to testify, almost 9 months after his default—he's still made no effort to
produce records—are irrelevant to whether he willfully refused to comply in Oct. 2021 w/ .. Committee’s subpoena" pic.twitter.com/eqZXfA0gRb— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 11, 2022
Federal prosecutors still maintain that Bannon cannot be granted executive privilege as he was not a member of the administration during the Jan. 6 protest. So, why does the committee seek his testimony so fervently?
Author: Vasily Ivanov
