Steve Bannon didn't sound worried about the trial before it started. He told his audience to tune in to the CNN special that weekend.
It wasn't a flattering portrait of former President Donald Trump's one-time White House strategist, who served for a time as the chairman of his 2020presidential campaign. The special described his reach well. CNN promoted the show and claimed that Bannon had a plan to remake the U.S. government and the Republican Party. "Not too shabby."
While he enjoys press coverage about his exploits, he may be going to jail if he doesn't talk about them. The House committee is investigating the attack on the Capitol, and one of the most prominent Trump allies is not cooperating. He has failed to comply with the committee's demands.
The trial over two charges of contempt of Congress began Monday in Washington, D.C., with jury selection. As he walked in, he smiled and pointed to the cameras.
One of the loudest voices calling for Donald Trump to stay in power was that of former White House strategist Steve Bannon. He continues to perpetuate those lies through his popular show, War Room, which has become a regular stop for Republican candidates who lie about Biden winning the election.
Evidence presented by the committee shows that Bannon was a central player in the events leading up to the election. At its most recent public hearing last week, the committee revealed that Bannon spoke on the phone with Trump for 6 minutes on the evening of January 5. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.
Evidence shows that Bannon was thinking about helping Trump stay in power even if he didn't win the election. Mother Jones published an audio recording from October 31, 2020, days before the election, in which Bannon said that Trump would declare victory once the early returns were in, even though mail-in ballots that wouldn't be counted until later were expected to favor Joe. He is going to make a declaration. That doesn't mean he's a winner He's going to say he's a winner. The same plan was described in an episode of the War Room that aired on election day.
This isn't the first time that he's been charged. The Southern District of New York indicted Bannon and three others in August 2020 on charges of wire fraud and money-laundering in their efforts to raise money to build a wall on the southwest border. A judge agreed to dismiss the charges against the man after Trump pardoned him the day before he left office.
The focus of the trial is on whether or not he complied with the House subpoena and cooperated with the investigation. On the night before the Capitol riot, the committee would like to talk to Bannon. Even though he stopped working in the White House, Bannon's legal team argues that Trump's interest in asserting executive privilege prevents him from describing his dealings with the former President.
Last week, his legal team launched aHail Mary defense, announcing that Trump would allow Bannon to cooperate with the committee and waive claims of executive privilege. The trial wouldn't be delayed, according to the judge.
The trial could go on for a while. Thirty days to a year in jail is the maximum sentence for each of the two counts.
Regardless of the outcome, Bannon will remain in the headlines.
Bannon didn't miss a beat on the self-promotion front even as he stood to be sentenced to jail. Jack Posobiec, a far-right activist, was a guest host on the War RoomPodcast on Monday.
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