Steve Bannon arrives in federal court for trial Tuesday. (Patrick Semansky / AP)
Steve Bannon is on trial on two criminal charges for his failure to investigate the House on January 6, 2021, 10 months after receiving summonses from the select committee.
Trump’s polarizing ally has always been at the top of the Jan. 6 witness list for House investigators. But Justice Department prosecutors say the trial is intended to punish Bannon for breach of subpoenas, rather than coercing him into sharing information.
Here are the key things to know about the case when the initial statements begin:
Why the case is important: The case is important evidence of what influence Congress has when a witness eludes a subpoena from the House. Bannon’s is the first of two similar citation cases of the House select committee that go to trial; a case of contempt against former White House business adviser Peter Navarro is still in its early stages.
Bannon’s trial is also of particular relevance to the House panel, as it continues to negotiate the incorporation of additional witnesses, and as it prepares for a major hearing at prime time Thursday night in order to highlight the that committee members have called former President Donald Trump’s “abandonment of duty” in January. 6.
How the trial could unfold: Prosecutors promise that their case against Bannon will be presented succinctly, in just a few days, with only two or three prosecution witnesses. This list includes investigators from the House committee.
It is unknown to what extent Bannon’s defense will be, or whether he will want to occupy the position in his own defense. He will not be able to force members of the House to testify, the judge said.
Earlier in the case, Bannon vowed to turn the procedure into “a lesser crime from hell by (Attorney General) Merrick Garland, (Speaker of the House) 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’s Attempts to Stop Trial: Bannon, who accepted an 11-hour pardon from Trump in 2021 when facing charges of conspiracy fraud and money laundering in Manhattan federal court related to a collection plan from the bottom of the border wall, he has made a number of attempts in court in recent days to stop the trial, to further model a defense or to prepare possible appeals.
So far, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols has been overwhelmingly on the side of the Justice Department on what evidence the jury can hear, cutting off Bannon’s ability to try to postpone the advice he gave his lawyer or to use the DOJ’s internal policies on presidential advisers he hoped they could. protect it.
In recent weeks, Trump has indicated that he wants to relinquish any executive privileges that may have applied to Bannon, and Bannon suggested he might be interested in speaking with the House committee, a series of events that the team de Bannon now wants to try to show the jury. . But his ability to raise arguments about the privilege of the executive will, at best, be very limited. Bannon was not a government official during the period the committee is investigating.
The charges: A grand federal jury charged the right-wing figure in November with two counts of criminal contempt: one for his lack of testimony demanded by the House select committee in the fall and the other for his lack of presentation of documents. A key issue at trial will be whether the jury agrees with prosecutors and the Chamber that Bannon’s October citation deadlines were final and that he deliberately ignored them.
The two charges he faces are misdemeanors. But if convicted, each carries a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail.
Keep reading about the case here.