NEW YORK (NY) - AUGUST 20, 2020: Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategy Officer, leaves the Manhattan Federal Court in Manhattan on August 20, 2020. This is the Manhattan borough of New York City. Bannon was indicted along with three others for defrauding donors during a $25 million fundraising campaign for the border wall. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Steve Bannon refused to comply the January 6 House investigation subpoena.
Bannon's lawyer claimed that he was not required to comply with Trump's executive privilege.
In 2017, Trump's White House Chief Strategist was Bannon.
Ex-aide to Donald Trump Steve Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee that was investigating the January 6 rebellion, according to multiple news outlets.
Robert Costello, Bannon's attorney wrote to House investigators informing them that Bannon is not required to respond to their request for information due to Trump's executive privilege.
This is after Trump's legal team instructed Bannon's former aides not to comply with congressional subpoenas that were issued last month.
"It is clear to us therefore that the executive privileges belong President Trump and he has, through counsel, announced his intent to assert those executive privileges enumerated atop, so we must accept his direction" Costello wrote to Costello to the House committee on Thursday. This was the deadline for responding to the subpoena.
The committee also sought documents and information from former Trump administration officials such as Kash Patel, Dan Scavino, and Mark Meadows. Bannon and Patel were asked to appear for depositions on Oct. 14 by the subpoenas, while Meadows and Scavino would sit the following day.
According to The New York Times, the chairman of the House committee, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi, could request criminal referrals for witnesses who fail to comply.
"Mr. Bannon indicated that he would try to conceal vague references to the privileges enjoyed by the former President. "The Select Committee fully expects all these witnesses to comply with our demands both for documents and deposition testimony," Thompson, and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney from Wyoming stated in a statement.
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Thompson and Cheney stated, "We will not permit any witness to defy lawful subpoenas or attempt to run out of the clock, and will swiftly consider moving a criminal contemptof Congress referral."
Bannon was a key campaign aide for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. After leaving the White House, he became a chief strategist in 2017.
Trump distanced himself last summer from Bannon after he was charged with fraud in connection to an online fundraising campaign to build a US-Mexico borderwall. He was accused by federal prosecutors, along with three others, of defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands. Bannon denied the allegations. Trump said at the time that he didn't know anything about the project and that it was "very sad by Mr. Bannon."
Trump attempted to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election and the pair started talking again. Trump pardoned Bannon in his last hours of office.
Business Insider has the original article.
