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Bannon pushed back on the committee, citing Trump’s claim for executive privilege.
The special House committee investigating the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill will “quickly consider” retaining Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House adviser, and potentially others, in defiance of Congress for ignoring quotes to appearing from the committee, said committee chair Bennie Thompson, vice chair Liz Cheney. Friday.
The move came after Bannon formally informed the committee that he would not be able to comply with their demands, citing former President Donald Trump’s intention to invoke executive privilege. In a letter obtained by ABC News, Bannon’s attorneys said that until the case was resolved by the court, they would not comply with the committee’s summons.
Last month, the committee issued subpoenas to Bannon and other key Trump aides, Mark Meadows, Kash Patel and Dan Scavino, as part of its investigation into the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol. 11 more subpoenas were issued last week to organizers of the pro-Trump rally that preceded the attack.
Meadows, a former White House chief of staff, and Patel, a former Pentagon official, “are engaging” with the committee, officials said. The committee had no update on Scavino’s status.
“While Mr. Meadows and Mr. Patel are, so far, in contact with the select committee, Mr. Bannon has indicated that he will try to hide behind vague references to the privileges of the former president,” he said. Thompson and Cheney said in a joint statement. . “The select committee fully expects all of these witnesses to comply with our requests for documents and testimony.”
Sources confirm to ABC News that Trump’s lawyer sent a letter to several of those subpoenaed informing them that the former president wants the subpoenas to be ignored and that he is considering claiming executive privilege. In the letter, Trump suggested he would be prepared to take the case to court to block their cooperation.
However, in an interview earlier this week with right-wing commentator John Solomon, Trump suggested he would have no problem with his confidants participating in the investigation.
“I’m mixed, because we haven’t done anything wrong,” Trump said. “So I’m kind of like, ‘Why are we hiring lawyers to do this? I would like everyone to come in and say what you have to say. We haven’t done anything wrong. “
Committee officials said those who ignore the subpoenas could be found in contempt.
“While the select committee welcomes a good faith engagement with witnesses seeking to cooperate with our investigation, we will not allow any witnesses to defy a legal subpoena or attempt to miss the allotted time, and we will quickly consider moving forward. a criminal contempt of referral to Congress, “the statement read.
Any contempt motion would be adopted for consideration by the entire House. If passed, the case would then be referred to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.
Democrats considered holding Bannon in contempt of a House Intelligence Committee subpoena in 2018, but ultimately refused to do so. The entire House voted in favor of the detention of former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for contempt of Congress in 2019 for ignoring subpoenas from the House Oversight Committee for records related to the 2020 census, but Trump’s Justice Department ignored the requests.
Trump is also seeking to prevent the Jan.6 committee from accessing selected documents held by the National Archives, which controls White House records, including West Wing communications and visitor logs. On Friday, he sent a letter to the agency asserting executive privilege over a slice of documents he said contain privileged presidential communications.
White House attorney Dara Remus said in a previous letter to the agency that the White House “has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interest of the United States”, but that she would “respond accordingly” if Trump asserts that the executive privileges only a subset of the documents.
On Friday, the committee issued a total of 17 subpoenas, most going to Trump associates and individuals linked to the gatherings in Washington on the day of the Capitol riot.
The committee plans to schedule in-person depositions with cooperating witnesses in the coming weeks.
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