Donald Trump’s ally Steve Bannon has surrendered to face contempt charges

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WASHINGTON-Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, surrendered to federal authorities on Monday to face contempt charges after rejecting a subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurgency in January on US Capitol.

Bannon was taken into custody Monday morning and is expected to appear in court later in the afternoon. The 67-year-old was charged Friday with two counts of criminal contempt-one for refusing to appear for a congressional deposition and one for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena.

The accusation came as a second expected witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, objected to his own subpoena from the committee on Friday and as Trump intensified his legal fights to suppress documents and testimony about insurrection.

If the House votes to contempt Meadows, that recommendation will also be sent to the Justice Department for possible indictment.

Officials in both Democratic and Republican administrations have been despised by Congress, but criminal accusations for contempt are very rare.

The accusation against Bannon comes after a dead Trump administration official – including Bannon – has objected to requests and requests from Congress over the past five years with little consequence, including during an investigation into impeachment. The administration of President Barack Obama has also refused to charge two of its officials with violating congressional requests.

The plaintiff alleges that Bannon did not contact the committee in any way since he received the subpoena on Sept. 24 to Oct. 7 when his attorney sent the letter, seven hours after the documents.

Bannon, who worked at the White House at the beginning of the Trump administration and currently hosts the conspiracy-minded podcast “War Room,” was a private citizen who “refused to appear to testify as required by a subpoena,” the report said. perfect.

When Bannon refused to appear for his deposition in October, his attorney said the former Trump adviser was instructed by an attorney for Trump citing executive privilege not to answer questions.

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