Bannon told the committee on Saturday that he is now willing to testify, ideally at a public hearing, according to a letter obtained by CNN. He had previously defied a congressional subpoena and is set to go on trial for criminal contempt later this month. The reversal came after he received a letter from Trump waiving executive privilege, though both the House select committee and federal prosecutors contend that claim of privilege never gave Bannon permission to ignore a subpoena from Congress. According to prosecutors, Bannon’s lawyer “misrepresented to the Commission what the former President’s counsel had told the defendant’s attorney.” In October, Bannon’s lawyers told a House select committee that Clark had informed them that Trump would exercise executive privilege over Bannon and “directed Mr. Bannon not to produce documents or testify until the issue of executive privileges”. Prosecutors have previously cited emails from Clark telling Bannon’s lawyer, Robert Costello, that the letter Costello subpoenaed the committee did not, in fact, show the White House believed Bannon could claim executive privilege. “Counsel for the former President made it clear to the defendant’s attorney that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance,” prosecutors wrote in Monday’s filing. The Jan. 6 committee was interested in talking to Bannon about his communications with Trump in December 2020, when Bannon reportedly urged him to focus on certifying the results of the Jan. 6 presidential election. Committee members were also interested in Bannon’s comments in the run-up to the Capitol uprising, including a Jan. 5 podcast in which he predicted, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” In a court filing Monday, federal prosecutors called Bannon’s willingness to testify now before the House Select Committee a “last-minute” effort that does not change the case against him, noting that he has not produced subpoena records. “The defendant’s last-minute efforts to testify nearly nine months after his failure — he has yet to make any effort to produce records — are irrelevant to whether he willfully refused to comply in October 2021 with the Select Committee’s subpoena,” prosecutors wrote. Bannon is scheduled to stand trial on July 18. “The Criminal Contempt Act is not intended to ensure compliance; it is intended to punish past noncompliance,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.
