Jan. 6 Committee Announces Plan to Hold Steven Bannon in Criminal Contempt

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol will move to hold former White House strategist Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena.

CNN reports that Bannon “was scheduled for a deposition in front of the committee on Thursday, and Bannon’s lawyer wrote in a letter the day before to the panel saying that his client will not provide testimony or documents until the committee reaches an agreement with former President Donald Trump over executive privilege or a court weighs in on the matter.”

In a statement, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the committee, said, “Mr. Bannon has declined to cooperate with the Select Committee and is instead hiding behind the former President’s insufficient, blanket, and vague statements regarding privileges he has purported to invoke. We reject his position entirely.”

“The Select Committee will not tolerate defiance of our subpoenas, so we must move forward with proceedings to refer Mr. Bannon for criminal contempt. I’ve notified the Select Committee that we will convene for a business meeting Tuesday evening to vote on adopting a contempt report,” he added. – READ MORE