Steve Bannon goes on trial on two criminal charges for failing to comply with a House investigation on January 6, 2021, 10 months after receiving subpoenas from the select committee. Proceedings began Monday with jury selection in federal court in Washington, DC. Twenty-two potential jurors have been found and the 12 that make up the jury and two alternates will be selected Tuesday morning. Opening statements will begin immediately afterward. Remember: The case is an important test of what power Congress has when a witness evades a House subpoena. Bannon’s is the first of two similar House select committee subpoena cases to go to trial. a contempt case against former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is still in its early stages. Prosecutors have vowed that their case against Bannon will be presented briefly, in just a few days, with only two or three prosecution witnesses. This list includes House committee investigators. It is unknown how extensive Bannon’s defense will be or whether he will want to take a stand to defend his own position. He will not be able to compel members of the House to testify, the judge said. At the start of the case, Bannon vowed to make the process “a trial 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 received an 11th-hour pardon from Trump in 2021 as he faced fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges in Manhattan federal court over a border fundraising scheme — has made a series of court efforts in recent days to stop the trial, to further formulate a defense or prepare for possible appeals. So far, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols has overwhelmingly sided with the Justice Department on what evidence the grand jury can hear, ruling out Bannon’s ability to try to defer to advice given to him by his lawyer or to use internal DOJ policies on presidential advisers that he hoped could protect him. Bannon’s ability to make arguments about executive privilege will be very limited at best. Bannon was not a government official during the period the committee is investigating. Read more here.
