[UPDATE: STEVE BANNON RESPONDS] – Steve Bannon found GUILTY on contempt of Congress

by The Right Scoop

Steve Bannon has just been found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena by Pelosi’s hack Jan 6th committee:

This is nothing more than select, targeted prosecution that NEVER should have happened. It’s Democrats at the DOJ doing the bidding of Pelosi’s hyperpartisan Democrat committee. This never would have happened to a Democrat.

Here’s what Joel Pollock said about it today at Breitbart before the verdict came out, calling it a farce:

The trial of Stephen K. Bannon is a farce in which the federal judiciary is validating an unlawful, unconstitutional, McCarthyist witch hunt that is violating due process and civil liberties for the purposes of destroying the political opposition.

I hold no special brief for Bannon, who left Breitbart News more than four years ago. I also opposed the January 6 protest — not just the riot, but the peaceful part — in advance, because I believed Congress could not reject an Electoral College vote.

What I find alarming about the Bannon trial is that after the defense was barred from bringing up the legal problems with the subpoena Bannon was issued, Judge Carl Nichols allowed the prosecution to make a case about the validity of the subpoena.

The first prosecution witness, Kirsten Amerling, is the chief counsel for the January 6 Committee. She was not just called as a fact witness, but specifically to offer her legal opinion about the subpoena — a task that properly belongs to Judge Nichols.

While Amerling was allowed to testify that, in her view, the subpoena was urgent, the defense was not allowed to ask if it was validly issued at all, given that Democrats barred certain Republicans from the committee, which has no ranking member.

Recall that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected the minority’s chosen ranking member, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), as well as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — the first time in history the majority has denied the minority the right to choose its representatives.

Pelosi did that for two reasons. First, she did not want Republicans, much less supporters of former President Donald Trump, to have strong, effective dissenting voices. Second, Democrats intended to call Jordan and other Republicans as witnesses.

Democrats wanted to implicate them in a “coup,” when all they did was what committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and other members of the committee once did: object to the certification of Electoral College votes from certain states.

The result is that the committee lacks the requisite number of members — seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, rather than eight Democrats and five Republicans, and has no ranking member, as Thompson himself has admitted publicly.

Without a ranking member, according to House rules and to the committee’s own enabling resolution, the committee cannot issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to provide testimony or documents. This is a vital protection against abuses of power.

Nevertheless, Democrats have held depositions, under threat of prosecution, behind closed doors, selectively editing what the public can see — often distorting what witnesses have said, even 480 ones, damaging their reputations and rights.

Judge Nichols apparently believes that Congress can do what it likes with its own committees — that the Political Question Doctrine and separation of powers prevent the courts from interfering in the internal deliberations of the legislative branch.

The Bannon trial sets a horrific precedent: that the majority can abuse its power, with judicial approval.

There’s more at Breitbart if you want to read it.

But his point is clear that Bannon was denied from even questioning the legitimacy of the subpoena. His hands were tied by the judge when he entered the courtroom and now he’s going to be handcuffed and let to prison at some point.

This is what happens when you’re a Republican in DC, especially aligned with Trump. Meanwhile Democrats can lie to the FBI in order to push a phony coup against Trump and despite the mountain of evidence, they get to walk.

I sincerely hope that Bannon can and will appeal this ruling because as Pollock says, it’s a farce that shouldn’t be allowed to stand.

UPDATE: Steve Bannon responds…

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