Jan. 6 committee to 'swiftly consider' criminal contempt for Steve Bannon, others who ignore subpoen

Source: ABC News

Jan. 6 committee to 'swiftly consider' criminal contempt for Steve Bannon, others who ignore subpoenas

Bannon rebuffed the committee, citing Trump's claim of executive privilege.

ByBenjamin Siegel andKatherine Faulders
October 8, 2021, 8:07 PM
• 5 min read

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot will "swiftly consider" holding one-time Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, and potentially others, in contempt of Congress for ignoring committee subpoenas, committee chairman Bennie Thompson vice-chair Liz Cheney said Friday.

The move came after Bannon formally advised the committee that he would be unable to comply with their requests, citing former President Donald Trump's intention to invoke executive privilege. In a letter obtained by ABC News, Bannon's lawyers said that until the matter is settled in court, they will not comply with the committee's subpoena.

The committee last month issued subpoenas to Bannon and other top Trump aides Mark Meadows, Kash Patel and Dan Scavino, as part of its probe into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. An additional 11 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, an ex-Pentagon official, are "engaging" with the committee, officials said. The committee had no update on the status of Scavino.

"While Mr. Meadows and Mr. Patel are, so far, engaging with the Select Committee, Mr. Bannon has indicated that he will try to hide behind vague references to privileges of the former President," Thompson and Cheney said in a joint statement. "The Select Committee fully expects all of these witnesses to comply with our demands for both documents and deposition testimony."

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/jan-committee-swiftly-criminal-contempt-steve-bannon-ignore/story?id=80486293