In a letter Saturday to the committee, obtained by ABC News, Bannon said he would prefer to testify in a live, public hearing after the former president had sent him a separate letter Saturday — also obtained by ABC — waiving the objections. Both the House committee and federal prosecutors who tried to speak with Bannon said the executive privilege claims never covered him, since the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising took place long after Bannon left his post as chief strategist. of the White House in 2017. Bannon previously defied the committee’s subpoena and is awaiting trial on criminal contempt charges. His lawyer wrote on his behalf in the letter this weekend that “circumstances have now changed”. “President Trump has determined that it would be in the best interest of the American people to waive the executive privilege of Stephen K. Bannon, to allow Mr. Bannon to comply with the subpoena issued by your committee. Mr. Bannon is willing, and indeed prefers, to testify at the public hearing,” attorney Bob Costello wrote. “Mr. Bannon is willing, and prefers, to testify at your public hearing.” It is unclear whether Bannon now plans to comply with the committee’s request for documents that accompanied his subpoena. A video of Steve Bannon is shown on a screen during a U.S. House Select Committee hearing to investigate the January 6 attack at the United States Capitol in Washington, June 16, 2022. Sarah Silbiger/Reuters In Trump’s letter to Bannon, Trump repeated his criticism of the House committee and wrote that he felt his former aide – now a right-wing commentator – had been treated “unfairly”. “When you first received the subpoena to testify and produce documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I have watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, have had to spend huge sums of money in legal fees, and all the trauma you must be going through out of love for your country and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, if you come to an agreement as to the time and place of your deposition, I will waive the executive privilege for you, which allows you to enter and testify truthfully and fairly. . . .” The letters were first reported by the Guardian. Speaking on CNN Sunday morning, Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren suggested the committee had not yet considered impeachment of Bannon, but hinted that public testimony may be unlikely. “This goes on for hours and hours. We want to get all of our questions answered, and you can’t do that live,” Lofgren told CNN’s Jake Tapper. The panel usually has private depositions with witnesses before they end up testifying live in a hearing room — or excerpts of their testimony are broadcast to the public. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, another member of the committee, was asked by ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday about Bannon’s possible testimony. Kinzinger said that “in a high-level position, anyone who wants to come, who knows information to talk to the select committee, we welcome them to do so.” “We welcome them to do it under oath. And we all know the history with our requests to have spoken to Steve Bannon. So we’ll see how that turns out,” Kinzinger said. Steve Bannon speaks to reporters before entering U.S. District Court in Washington, June 15, 2022. Elizabeth Franz/Reuters After defying the subpoena on January 6 last year, Bannon was charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, although he argued that Trump’s claim of privilege protected him. He pleaded not guilty and is due in court next week. Bannon remained an outside adviser to Trump after helping lead his first presidential campaign and a brief stint in the White House. It was at a meeting at the Willard Hotel where lawmakers were encouraged to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, the committee alleged Jan. 6 in a 2021 letter to Bannon along with his subpoena. He was quoted as saying, “All hell will break loose tomorrow,” the panel wrote in that letter, citing a Jan. 5, 2021, episode of the “War Room” podcast. ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
