Ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s trial for defying Jan. 6 committee to begin
Opening arguments are set to begin Tuesday in the trial of Steve Bannon, a onetime White House strategist and staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas issued by the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot.
Following a full day of jury selection, 22 people had been designated as qualified to sit on the panel after questioning from both sets of lawyers, NBC News reported Monday evening. Only 12 — plus two alternates — will be selected to hear the case.
The trial will take place amid a series of live hearings by the panel that have produced jaw-dropping allegations about the 45th president and those around him leading up to last year’s violence.
Much of the questioning of potential jurors by Bannon’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, centered on how much of the Jan. 6 hearings they’ve watched and whether they have opinions about the committee and its work.
In one case, a prospective juror flatly told US District Judge Carl Nichols that remaining impartial would be “a challenge” for him since, “I do believe (Bannon) is guilty.”
That admission, in addition to disqualifying the potential juror, prompted questioning of others who had sat next to the man to determine how widely he had shared his opinion.
However, another potential juror who said she had watched the Jan. 6 committee’s hearings was deemed qualified by Nichols — despite objections from Bannon’s defense team — because the woman indicated she had not prejudged the case, according to CNN.
Initially, Bannon refused to testify before the committee or provide any requested documents, maintaining he was protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege. The panel rejected the claim, citing Bannon’s status as a private citizen at the time of the riot after being fired from his White House role in August 2017.
Despite defending his decision for months, Bannon reversed course earlier this month, telling the committee he would be willing to testify after all.
While Bannon claimed Trump was going to waive the executive privilege claim, federal prosecutors insisted that Trump had never invoked the privilege to prevent Bannon from testifying in the first place.
Prosecutors also said Bannon’s legal team “misrepresented to the Committee what the former President’s counsel had told the Defendant’s [Bannon’s] attorney; and that the former President’s counsel made clear to the Defendant’s attorney that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance.”
Also last week, Nichols declined to delay the start of the trial and shot down several defense strategies proposed by Bannon’s legal team.
The judge blocked the defense from calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and members of the Jan 6. committee to the stand, barred it from arguing that the select committee violated House rules by calling on Bannon to testify, and from arguing that the former Breitbart executive chairman ignored the subpoena on the advice of his counsel or at Trump’s direction.
With the jury selected, the trial is expected to move quickly, wrapping up as soon as next week, according to Reuters.
Bannon faces a minimum of 60 days in prison if convicted on both counts and could be sentenced to up to two years behind bars and fined up to $2,000.
His trial is seen as a major test of the power of Congress to punish witnesses who refuse to comply with House subpoenas.
Another former Trump White House aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, was indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress in June. Last week, a spokesperson for Navarro announced he had turned down a plea offer that would have required him to plead guilty.
The Justice Department has declined to pursue contempt charges against two more Trump aides, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino, who were part of the administration at the time of the riot.
Ahead of Bannon’s trial, the committee has noted its interest in information he might have regarding conversations with Trump leading up to Jan. 6.
During last week’s hearing, the committee revealed White House records that showed the two spoke twice on Jan. 5, 2021. The first call came just before Bannon made a prediction on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose” the following day.
