The former STRACE OF THE BLAND HOUSE is being prosecuted for refusing to cooperate with the special commission of the House of Representatives, which investigates the assault on January 6, 2021 by the supporters of the former republican president.
Le Monde with ap
The reversal is spectacular. Steve Bannon, the former advisor to Donald Trump, said he was ready to appear before the special commission of the House of Representatives who investigated the Capitole assault on January 6, 2021 by the supporters of the former president American.
The members of the committee said on Sunday July 10, having learned this decision by a letter from a lawyer from Steve Bannon who is prosecuted for having refused for months to testify and transmit documents to the said commission.
The latter – which has seven Democrats and two Republicans – will meet in particular Thursday, July 14 to examine the period of more than three hours during which Donald Trump did not acted while a crowd of his supporters took over Capitol. She is preparing to disseminate certain revelations against the ex-president. Steve Bannon’s testimony would therefore be extremely precious. “I expect that we hear about him, and we have many questions to ask him,” said Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren.
Until then, the former strategist of the White House brandished the argument of the executive privilege, invoked by Donald Trump, to justify his refusal to cooperate. This privilege, a simple principle not defined by law, protects the confidentiality of exchanges between the president and his relatives.
The end of the executive privilege
The Commission maintains that such a defense is doubtful because, at the time of the facts, Steve Bannon was no longer adviser to the president – a position left in 2017 -, but animator of a immensely popular conspiracy podcast. According to the Commission, Steve Bannon was therefore a simple citizen when he advised Donald Trump on the eve of the riot of January 6, 2021.
According to a letter received by the lawyer for Steve Bannon on Saturday, the former Republican president – who constantly denounces the impartiality of the commission of inquiry – declared that he renounced this executive privilege. “If you are reaching an agreement over an hour and a place for your testimony, I will give up the executive privilege for you, which allows you to go and fairly testify, in accordance with the request of the commission not elected of thugs and political pirates, “is it written in the letter.
Since the opening of the hearings, the commission of inquiry has heard very many people linked to the attack on the Capitol. Tuesday, June 28, the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, former assistant of Mark Meadows, the chief of staff of the president in the last months of his administration, revealed the explosive role of Donald Trump in the riots.
The Democrat representative Jamie Raskin suggested that Steve Bannon “had changed his mind, and after seeing, probably all these people come forward, including Cassidy Hutchinson, decided that he wanted to come.” >
He could choose not to answer questions
The Commission wishes to hear Steve Bannon because he “had precise knowledge of the events scheduled for January 6 before they occur”. She quotes as an example of the words he had made on his podcast, the day before the riot.
“It’s not going to happen as you think it will happen. O.K., it’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is to hang on,” he said in the program. “Hell will be unleashed tomorrow. (…) So many people said:” Dude, if I were in a revolution, I would be in Washington. “Well, that’s your time in history”, -It added.
Nevertheless, the degree of cooperation that Steve Bannon will show before the Special Commission is unknown. Rather, he would like to appear during a public hearing before the Commission, but the latter specifies that he must first go through a private interview, generally within the framework of an oath. It is possible that the old strategist chooses to appear but refuses to answer questions, invoking the fifth amendment of the American Constitution, against self-incrimination.