Steve Bannon, a one-time key aide to the former president of U.S., is facing contempt of Congress charges from the panel that has summoned him to testify about what he knows regarding 1/6.
Bannon has refused to testify until the courts weigh in on Donald Trump’s contention that he is entitled to presidential executive privilege.
Here is the question I am pondering: What can Congress do to enforce the contempt charge? Answer, as near as I can tell: Not much … just yet.
The Justice Department has to determine whether to bring criminal charges against Bannon, or against any other of the former Trumpkins who are likely to resist the subpoenas that the House select committee has issued.
The panel wants to know the truth behind what occurred within the White House on 1/6. So do many millions of Americans want to know. I am one of them.
Explainer-What’s at stake for Trump allies facing ‘contempt of Congress’? (msn.com)
Bannon is the keeper of plenty of secrets, I am certain. He needs to share them with the nation and the world.
Let me be clear about one more thing. What happened on 1/6 posed a dire threat to the very government we all cherish. The riot on Capitol Hill could have ended far differently than it did had the terrorists been allowed to achieve their mission to “Hang Mike Pence!” and to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election result.
Bannon and his former boss have no right to invoke executive privilege. I hope the DOJ sees it that way, too.
The FBI admitted in August that it found little evidence that the January 6 protest was an organized insurrection. A source close to the investigation told Reuters that 90-95% of those who entered the Capitol were “one-offs.'”
Ashli Babbitt was also unarmed and there’s contradictory testimony that she was ever given a verbal warning before being shot and killed.