Prosecutors Say Steve Bannon Will Still Have To Stand Trial

Mr. Bannon told the committee over the weekend that he was willing to testify, preferably in a public hearing. His trial is scheduled to begin July 18 on two counts of criminal contempt. Mr. Bannon initially refused to comply with the committee’s January 6 subpoena in October. “The defendant’s last-minute efforts to testify, nearly nine months after his default — he has yet to make any effort to produce records — are irrelevant to whether he willfully refused to comply with the Select Committee’s subpoena,” prosecutors said. . filing on Monday. The government’s filing sought to prevent Mr. Bannon’s defense team from telling jurors about his willingness to testify at the last minute. Mr. Bannon said he was now willing to testify after Mr. Trump said he would waive any claim to privilege, citing what the former president called unfair treatment of Mr. Bannon. Prosecutors said Mr. Trump “never invoked executive privilege for specific information or material” and that Mr. Bannon’s claim of privilege never justified a complete failure to comply with the subpoena. The prosecutors’ testimony came ahead of a scheduled hearing on Monday to discuss Mr. Bannon’s request to delay his trial until October and other issues in the case. US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the case in Washington. Mr. Bannon’s lawyers argued that news coverage of the committee hearings could taint the jury pool and deny him a fair trial. “Select members of the Commission have made inflammatory comments about the guilt of President Trump and his closest advisers, including Mr. Bannon, and have broadcast to millions of people their alleged ‘findings’ on matters that could prejudice the minds of jurors in this case.” Mr. Bannon’s lawyers wrote in a June 29 court filing. Judge Nichols on Monday declined to postpone the trial date, saying he believed the jury selection process would produce a fair jury. The judge also ruled on several questions about what both sides could present at trial. In a setback for Mr. Bannon, Judge Nichols said prosecutors only have to prove that Mr. Bannon willfully defied the subpoena, not that he had a malicious motive to do so. The judge said Mr. Bannon could present no evidence that he relied on the advice of lawyers or claims of executive privilege, saying those excuses were irrelevant to the key question of whether he knew about the subpoena. Mr. Bannon could argue that he had some kind of misunderstanding, for example, if he didn’t know the subpoena deadline, the judge said. In a small victory for Mr. Bannon’s legal team, Judge Nichols said Mr. Bannon’s lawyers could question witnesses about possible political bias, but said the questions could not be too intrusive. —Jan Wolfe contributed to this article. The Wall Street Journal analyzed hours of video and audio from the Capitol riot to better understand how a mob of thousands overwhelmed police and attacked the US Capitol. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

Fallout From the Capitol Riot#

Fallout From the Capitol Riot