By Eric Thompson dated
Stephen K. Bannon served as the White House‘s chief strategist in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration during the first seven months of Trump’s term.
The host of the popular daily talk show and podcast, The War Room, became the first person in nearly 40 years to be indicted on a charge of criminal contempt of Congress last month after he refused to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Bannon who was smiling and streaming live as he turned himself into the authorities, before posting bail, promised his audience he would get to the bottom of the January 6th and other investigations.
In keeping with his public persona of always staying ahead of those opposed to the Deplorables and who are pro-China Communist Party (CCP), Bannon might be using his criminal case to go after the radical leftists on January 6th committee, who came after him.
Instead of running from the charges, Bannon is using his legal team to request all the evidence, including who the committee investigators spoke to and what they’ve said, discovery on what communications have taken place in the committee, and possibly develop a plan for other witnesses to use also, according to some legal experts
“There’s no cost to opposing Congress if you can give Congress a black eye for even daring to ask you questions,” said Kel McClanahan, an attorney who specializes in national security matters.
As Bannon faces criminal charges, he’s entitled to the evidence against him. For example, his legal team wants to have access to all the information in a court filing last Sunday, by federal prosecutors, which reportedly includes secret witness interviews by law enforcement and internal communications between House committee staff members.
The Justice Department is objecting claiming that, if this material were exposed to the public, it would cause “specific harms” like “witness tampering,” with the added effect of making it difficult to find impartial jurors at a future trial.
Bannon is being represented by two attorneys in his criminal contempt case. One is M. Evan Corcoran, a former federal prosecutor. The other is David I. Schoen, one of the lawyers who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Bannon’s lawyers said the government’s argument was “festooned with hyperbole… perhaps designed to score points with the media.” That same day, a “press coalition” of 15 news organizations—including Buzzfeed, CNN, and The Washington Post—sided with Bannon and asked the judge overseeing the case to make documents available and reject what it called “this broad gag order.”
Some legal experts are saying the overall tactic of demanding to see all the evidence this early in a court case is unprecedented, a sign that the gloves are already off in round one, and it’s going to get bloody.
“Normally this doesn’t come up. His whole thing is about blowing up the whole system. He’s almost an anarchist,” said Jennifer Rodgers, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who now teaches at Columbia University.
“It might not really be about the contents of any particular document. It might be about the process,” she said.
I think the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, led by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, might have been better off, for their political sake, to let Bannon bark from afar, instead of bringing him into the house where he can bite.
Written By: Eric Thompson, host of the Eric Thompson Show. Follow me on his website ETTALKSHOW, MAGABOOK, Twellit & Twitter.
I’m so pleased to see David Schoen as his attorney.
If a REAL investigation into January 6th were to be conducted, you can bet your last nickel that Pelosi and Schumer would be in it up to their eyeballs, along with Soros and Obama.