Bannon is charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a September 2021 subpoena from the select committee, which had asked him to participate in October testimony and turn over documents related to its investigation by October 7. “Congress had a right to the information it asked for. It wasn’t optional. It wasn’t a request. And it wasn’t an invitation. It was mandatory,” Assistant US Attorney Amanda Vaughn told the Washington, DC, jury. “The defendant decided he was above the law…and that’s why we’re here today.” Prosecutors have characterized Bannon’s alleged crimes as a simple refusal to comply with a legitimate congressional request, devoid of the chaos and drama of the Jan. 6 attack itself. “This case is not about what happened on Jan. 6,” Vaughn said. “This case is about the defendant thumbing his nose at the regular processes of our government.” “Until that 10 a.m. deadline on October 7, 2021,” prosecutors claimed, “the panel had not heard a word from the defendant. That deadline came and went, and he ignored it.” Vaughn said Bannon was warned again, later in October, that if he did not comply with the committee’s demands, he could face criminal charges. “He is innocent of the charges,” Bannon’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, responded in his opening statement, arguing that the case was not as clear-cut as the administration made it out to be. Corcoran claimed that negotiations between the committee and Bannon’s other lawyer, Robert Costello, were still ongoing at the time of the alleged bankruptcy. “No one believed that Steve Bannon was going to appear on October 14, 2021,” Corcoran said, adding that Bannon believed the subpoena deadline was flexible and subject to further discussion. “Politics is the soul of the House of Representatives,” Corcoran said, later implying that politics, not the law, was at play in the courtroom. Bannon, who was a private citizen at the time the committee was set up on January 6 last year, was charged after the House of Representatives referred his non-compliance to the Justice Department, which later indicted him. Bannon’s lawyer said at the time his client was simply following instructions from former President Trump’s legal team not to provide documents or testify because of executive privilege, although several courts have said Trump is not entitled to claim executive privilege. Bannon was also not employed by the White House on January 6, 2021. Bannon pleaded not guilty to both charges. Tuesday’s opening statements were presented to a jury of 14 Washington, D.C. residents who were selected after a relatively intense and arduous process that began Monday. The jurors include an appliance worker who attended part of the commission’s first Jan. 6 hearing, a parks and recreation official and a D.C. city employee with apparently vast experience serving on juries. “They call me once every two years,” he told the judge Monday. A NASA contractor, an architect, a COVID-19 testing contractor and an online art dealer rounded out the team in a nearly two-day waiting game after the judge and lawyers on both sides examined 40 people for their work, opinion on the Jan. 6 House Committee and Bannon’s work with Trump over the years. The panel of 14 — two of whom will serve as alternate jurors — was dismissed after prosecutors and Bannon attacked a total of six people during their selection. Tuesday’s proceedings were delayed and the prospective jury panel put on hold after Bannon’s team asked the court to exclude three letters exchanged between the House committee on Jan. 6 and Bannon’s lawyer, Robert Costello. The letters, Bannon’s team argued, were “classic hearsay” and inadmissible in court. They also said the mail could open the door to information about Bannon’s views on executive privilege and counsel’s advice, arguments he tried to use as a defense that the judge previously ruled were inadmissible during the trial. . Prosecutors disagreed, arguing the letters prove Bannon willfully ignored congressional requests after unsuccessfully trying to get the committee to resign. The government has tentatively agreed to submit the letters with corrections. An hours-long exchange of views ensued between prosecutors, Bannon’s lawyers and Judge Carl Nichols over exactly what was admissible. Bannon’s team unsuccessfully sought to delay the trial for 30 days to reframe its arguments. Just last week, Bannon told the Jan. 6 committee that he’s willing to testify — publicly. “While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his beliefs, circumstances have now changed,” Costello wrote in the letter obtained by CBS News. Bannon’s lawyer also said that while Trump invoked executive privilege over his testimony and documents, the former president “decided that it would be in the best interest of the American people to waive executive privilege” for Bannon, allowing him to comply with the summons. . Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump, center, speaks to members of the media outside a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, U.S., Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images Prosecutors persuaded Judge Nichols to exclude that new stance from testimony in the criminal trial, but in court Tuesday, Bannon’s defense team once again argued that his change of heart was relevant to the jury, as prosecutors had argue that Bannon consistently believed he was “above the law” in his refusal to comply. The government called its first witness, Christine Amerling, the House committee’s deputy director and general counsel on Jan. 6, who discussed the committee’s formation and its mission, mandate and powers. Amerling told the jury that congressional subpoenas are not optional. “We have limited time to gather information,” he said, “The threat to our democratic institutions continues.” Amerling said she informed the committee about Bannon’s subpoena for depositions and documents after public reports showed he “played multiple roles” before Jan. 6, including convincing the public the election was illegal and appearing on a podcast before the Capitol breach that predicts “all hell will break loose.” He talked about the subpoena, including its “mandates” and deadlines. Bannon is the first of two former Trump aides charged with criminal contempt of Congress to stand trial. Former trade adviser Peter Navarro was also indicted for refusing to comply with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena and is due to go on trial in November after pleading not guilty.
Attack on the US Capitol
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