Steve Bannon Strikes Back Hard in Fight Against Contempt of Congress Charges
Steve Bannon, who helped usher Donald Trump to power during the 2016 election, is currently facing two charges of contempt of Congress. Bannon, who has been targeted by the January 6th committee, refused to testify and to produce documents. Joe Biden’s DOJ eventually moved forward with prosecution after the committee recommended charges.
That stands in stark contrast to the treatment of Eric Holder and Louise Lerner, both of which were held in contempt of Congress by majority votes in the House during the Obama administration. Neither was ever actually charged with a crime because the justice system is so clearly two-tiered.
Bannon isn’t going down without a fight, though. According to CNN, he and his team have now issued subpoenas for multiple Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer.
Steve Bannon, set to go to trial next month for defying a congressional subpoena, has subpoenaed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection as he builds his defense…
…Last week, Bannon’s legal team subpoenaed 16 lawmakers and congressional staffers to testify at the July trial and produce documents, according to one of Bannon’s attorneys and copies of the subpoenas provided to CNN. The subpoenas were aimed at all nine members of the select committee, three committee staffers and General Counsel for the House of Representatives Douglas Letter. Bannon also subpoenaed House Democratic leadership, including Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Rep. Jim Clyburn.
CNN found a legal “expert” to comment on the move, and he supposes that it’ll be hard for Bannon to compel the testimony of the Congressional members because of the Speech and Debate clause. Whether that’s actually true, I’m not sure, and I won’t claim to have an answer. Obviously, mainstream media outlets can find “experts” to tell them anything they want to hear.
Still, given that Bannon’s defense will likely rest on whether Pelosi and Hoyer followed proper procedure in setting up the committee, this might be a situation where they may be forced to appear. The subject at hand isn’t about anything the congressional members in question said. Rather, it’s about whether Bannon can be held in contempt of a committee that may be illegal as currently constituted.
For my part, I think this entire thing is a joke. Contempt of Congress is never enforced, but suddenly, because it’s a Trump associate, the DOJ is going to go hard? That strikes me as blatantly political, and as I noted earlier, it’s more evidence that the justice system is two-tiered. If you are a Democrat and an elite, you can do essentially anything you want. If you are a Republican, you’ll not only get charged in situations no one else would be charged but you’ll likely be found guilty because of the DC jury pool (a city that voted 92.5 percent for Joe Biden).
Do we really want a system where political leanings dictate whether you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars in court defending yourself? Or worse, whether you end up in jail? Unfortunately, far too many on the left are comfortable with that, being so sure that the alligator won’t eat them. Perhaps they are right, but one day Republicans will be back in charge. When that happens, payback needs to be swift.
Post a Comment