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Bannon Defies Subpoena From Jan. 6 Panel As Ordered By Trump
- By The Financial District
- Oct 10, 2021
- 2 min read
Steve Bannon will not cooperate with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, his lawyer said in an email obtained by CNN that cites former President Donald Trump's claim of executive privilege, Sara Murray, Katelyn Polantz, Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer, Zachary Cohen, Whitney Wild, and Veronica Stracqualursi reported.
Photo Insert: Steve Bannon has remained one of Trump's most loyal supporters.
Bannon's attorney told the committee that "the executive privileges belong to President Trump" and "we must accept his direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege."
The letter from Bannon's legal team goes on to say it may be up to the courts to decide whether he is ultimately forced to cooperate -- essentially daring the House to sue or hold him in criminal contempt.
"As such, until these issues are resolved, we are unable to respond to your request for documents and testimony," wrote the lawyer, Robert Costello.
The letter, sent to the committee Thursday, came after a lawyer for former President Donald Trump told subpoena targets, including Bannon, not to comply with congressional requests for testimony and documents that could concern privileged material.
The claim that Bannon could be covered by the former President's privilege is unusual because Bannon was not working for the federal government during the period surrounding the January 6 insurrection.
Privilege claims normally apply to close officials around the president and deliberations between government employees, and Bannon was fired from his role as a White House adviser in 2017.
Many legal experts say Bannon, as a private citizen, would have no standing to block a subpoena by claiming executive privilege. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said that former Trump officials Mark Meadows and Kash Patel are "so far engaging" with the panel.
