Jurors are set to hear closing arguments Friday in the trial of former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who faces two counts of contempt of Congress for allegedly refusing to comply with a subpoena for the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
That means the 12-member jury could begin deliberating Bannon’s fate on Friday, after only about a day and a half of testimony. The government called only two witnesses in the high-profile trial. Bannon, who on the eve of the trial had vowed to act “medieval” towards his enemies, did not call. Bannon’s legal team argued that they should have been allowed to call the committee’s chairman since Jan. 6, Rep. Benny G. Thompson (D-Miss.), but U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols did not allow this.
Nichols weighed a defense motion challenging whether prosecutors met their burden of proof, as well as defense arguments that Thompson’s testimony was essential to their case.
Before sending jurors home Thursday, the judge said one woman on the panel had to step down because of a medical problem, though he tried to reassure jurors it wasn’t Covid or something else contagious. That juror will be replaced by one of two alternates. Without mentioning a prime-time congressional hearing scheduled for Thursday evening, Jan. 6, the judge also reminded jurors to avoid news reports about the Capitol attack, as he has during the trial.
Do you remember who said what during the January 6 hearings so far? Take our test.
Bannon did not testify at the trial. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse Thursday afternoon, he said the real issue in the case is not the extent of his cooperation with the commission since Jan. 6, but whether the commission is willing to negotiate with him.
In the past, Bannon said, he has given “I think 50 hours of testimony, the same way every time,” before investigations by a special counsel and by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, with a lawyer present, referring to executive branch privilege times over communications involving then-President Donald Trump.
“We’ve developed it every time, and every single time, more than anyone else in the Trump administration … Stephen K. Bannon testified,” Bannon said.
Unlike the Jan. 6 House probe, however, those probes were conducted while Trump was president and covered conversations Bannon had while in the White House before he left in 2017.
In subpoenaing Bannon on Jan. 6, the committee said it wanted to question him about activities at the Willard Hotel the night before the riot at the Capitol, when Trump supporters tried to persuade lawmakers to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The committee said Bannon spoke with Trump by phone this morning and evening, the last time since Bannon predicted “all hell would break loose” on Jan. 6.
The January 6 Uprising
The House Special Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot held a series of high-level hearings over the summer. Read the final summary of the hearing.
Congressional Hearings: The House Committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol held a series of hearings to share its findings with the US public. The sixth hearing included explosive testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide.
Will there be a fee? The committee could press charges against former President Donald Trump for his role in the attack, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in an interview.
What we know about what Trump did on January 6: New details emerged when Hutchinson testified before the commission and shared what she saw and heard on January 6.
The Rebellion: On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died that day or shortly thereafter, and 140 police officers were attacked.
Inside the siege: During the riot, rioters came dangerously close to breaking into the building’s inner sanctums while lawmakers were still inside, including former Vice President Mike Pence. The Washington Post examined text messages, photos and videos to create a video timeline of what happened on January 6.
Add Comment