Former White House official Steve Bannon hit out at the “gutless” January 6 Select Committee after they did not testify during his trial on Friday.
A Washington, D.C., Jury convicted Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena from the January 6 committee.
“I want to thank the jury for the effort they did, the judge, particularly the court administration here, everybody,” Bannon told reporters. “I only have one disappointment and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.”
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Bannon will face between 60 days and two years in jail, and may face fines anywhere between $200 and $200,000, according to the Department of Justice.
Politico reported that the committee chair, Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, said in a July 14 letter that he would be willing to testify in Bannon’s trial if he handed over documents the Select Committee has requested for over a year.
“The July 9, 2022, outreach to the Select Committee by you on Mr. Bannon’s behalf does not change the fact that Mr. Bannon failed to follow that process and failed to comply with the select committee’s subpoena prior to the House referral of the contempt resolution concerning Mr Bannon’s defiance of the subpoena,” Thompson wrote.
According to Kristin Amerling, the chief counsel of the committee, Bannon refused to turn over any documents despite his sudden willingness to cooperate, Politico reported.
Justice Department prosecutors claimed that Bannon would politicize the trial, the outlet reported. Bannon’s defense attorney, Evan Corcoran, argued that the House of Representatives was playing a political game against Bannon.
The former White House official made similar comments about the committee outside the courthouse Tuesday, saying the committee lacked guts for refusing to testify and calling Thompson a “disgrace.”
He also reportedly accused Thompson of lying about a COVID-19 diagnosis to reporters on Wednesday.
“Why is Bennie Thompson not here defending his committee, the show trial, the Moscow show trial of the 1930s? Why is he not here in person?” the former Trump adviser said.
Bannon was subpoenaed by Congress in September 2021 and initially attempted to assert executive privilege. The House voted to hold Bannon in contempt. Congress also served subpoenas to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and the chief of staff for then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Kashyap Patel.
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