Steve Bannon has announced that he will not comply with the Democrat committee subpoenas regarding January 6th because Trump has said he will invoke his right of executive privilege:
DC EXAMINER – Steve Bannon, former top adviser to Donald Trump, has indicated he will not cooperate with a subpoena from the House’s select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Bannon will reportedly rely on Trump’s recent announcement that he would invoke executive privilege to protect himself and top aides from having to reveal information related to Jan. 6, sources told CNN.
“It is therefore clear to us that since the executive privileges belong to President Trump, and he has, through his counsel, announced his intention to assert those executive privileges enumerated above, we must accept his direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege,” Robert Costello, Bannon’s lawyer wrote in a letter to the committee. “As such, until these issues are resolved, we are unable to respond to your request for documents and testimony.”
The Sept. 23 subpoenas, which the recipients were supposed to comply with by Thursday or face criminal referral, demanded Bannon and three other Trump aides to turn over documents related to the riot.
DC Examiner also reports that Mark Meadows and Kash Patel are said to be ‘engaging’ with the committee’s subpoenas and the committee is threatening to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t comply:
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the committee, and Rep. Liz Cheney, its vice chairwoman, issued a joint statement confirming Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, and Kash Patel, a former Pentagon aide, have engaged the panel. The lawmakers also threatened to hold Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress if he does not comply with his subpoena.
“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. “The Select Committee fully expects all of these witnesses to comply with our demands for both documents and deposition testimony.”
Thompson and Cheney said the committee “welcomes good-faith engagement with witnesses seeking to cooperate with our investigation,” but “will not allow any witness to defy a lawful subpoena or attempt to run out the clock, and we will swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of Congress referral.”
Earlier today I saw a ‘woe is me’ tweet from Never Trumper Rick Wilson about all of this:
1/ I have some bad news. After multiple calls I have some extremely grim news.
As of now 1/6 commission is dead already, and will not enforce the subpoenas.
Trump wins.
The 1/6 terror plot will go unexamined and unpunished.
To say I'm livid is putting it mildly.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) October 8, 2021
But Cheney quickly responded that Wilson is wrong, that the committee will enforce it’s subpoenas:
This is not true. 1/6 Committee is making significant progress and we will enforce subpoenas. Committee statement coming soon. https://t.co/syn0Rux9wb
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) October 8, 2021