Bannon was charged with contempt charges for violating the congressional subpoena

[ad_1]

Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was charged Friday with two counts of contempt in Congress after he denied a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurgency in the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department said Bannon, 67, was charged on one count for refusing to appear for a deposition and another for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. It was not immediately clear when he should come to court.

The accusation came as a second witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, objected to a similar subpoena from the committee on Friday. The chairman of the panel, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, said he will recommend contempt charges against Meadows next week.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Bannon’s accusation reflects the Justice Department’s “firm commitment” to ensuring the department follows the rule of law. Each number has a minimum of 30 days imprisonment and a sentence of up to one year in prison.

Bannon’s attorney did not immediately respond to a comment seeking the message.

This is not the first time Bannon has faced legal danger. In August last year, he was pulled from a luxury yacht and arrested on allegations that he and three colleagues had stolen donors trying to fund a southern border wall. Trump later pardoned Bannon in the last hours of his presidency.

Meadows has spoken to the committee since his subpoena was released in September, but his attorney said Friday that Meadows had a “sharp legal dispute” with the panel because Trump claimed executive privilege to testify.

Thompson threatened contempt charges against Meadows in a letter to attorney George Terwilliger on Thursday, saying that if he failed to appear to answer the committee’s questions on Friday, it would be considered “intentional non -compliance.” vote on the recommendation in defiance, then the whole House votes to send it to the Justice Department.

Meadows ’refusal to comply was amid intensifying legal battle between the committee and Trump as the former president claimed privilege over documents and interviews demanded by lawmakers.

The White House said in a letter Thursday that President Joe Biden would relinquish any privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, prompting his attorney to say Meadows would not comply.

“Legal disputes are appropriately resolved by the courts,” said attorney George Terwilliger. “It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to resolve that dispute early on by voluntarily waiving the privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues.”

As sitting president, Biden has so far dismissed most of Trump’s privilege statements in the documents. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan supported Biden’s position, citing in a decision this week that “Presidents are not kings, and the Plaintiff is not President.”

The panel’s proceedings and attempts to gather information were delayed as Trump appealed Chutkan’s decisions. On Thursday, the federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of some of the White House records the panel was looking for, giving the court time to consider Trump’s arguments.

However, the House panel is continuing their work, and lawmakers have already interviewed more than 150 witnesses until they attempt to build the most comprehensive record of how a violent group of Trump supporters entered the Capitol and temporarily suspended certification of Biden’s success.

The committee subpoenaed nearly three dozen people, including former White House staff, Trump allies who strategized about how to overthrow his defeat and people who organized a giant rally at the National Mall last year. morning of Jan. 6. While some, such as Meadows and Bannon, balked, others spoke to the panel and provided documents.

Meadows, a former GOP congressman from North Carolina, was a key witness for the panel. He was Trump’s top aide in the period between Trump’s defeat in the November election and the insurgency, and one of the few people who forced state officials to try and reverse the results. He was also by Trump’s side most of the time, and he could provide information about what the former president was saying and doing during the attack.

“You are the president’s chief of staff and have critical information about many elements of our inquiry,” Thompson wrote in a letter accompanying the Sept. 23 subpoena in Meadows. “It looks like you were with or around President Trump on Jan. 6, contacted the president and others on Jan. 6 about events at the Capitol and you witnessed about the activities that day.”

The appeals court will hear arguments Nov. 30 in Trump’s separate case against the committee and the National Archives, an attempt to withhold documents from the panel. The arguments will take place in front of three judges appointed by Democratic presidents: Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, appointed by former President Barack Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a nominee by Biden.

Given the size of the case, whichever side loses before the circuit court is likely to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[ad_2]