Bannon’s revocation comes after he received a letter from former President Donald Trump waiving executive privilege, though both a House select committee and federal prosecutors say the privilege claim was never given to Bannon carte blanche to ignore a subpoena from Congress.
“When you were first subpoenaed to testify and produce documents, I invoked executive privilege. However, I have seen how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend huge sums of money in legal fees and all the trauma you must have going through out of love for your country and out of respect for the office of the President,” Trump wrote in a Saturday letter to Bannon, which was also obtained by CNN.
“Therefore, if you come to an agreement as to the time and place for your testimony, I will waive executive privilege for you that allows you to come in and testify truthfully and honestly,” Trump added, continuing to criticize the committee’s ” Thugs and Hacks .”
Bannon was indicted last year on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. He argued that he was free to ignore his subpoena from Congress to defend Trump’s potential claims of privilege. But federal prosecutors and other legal experts said the privilege did not apply to Bannon — who left his White House job as chief strategist years before the Capitol riot — and did not give him the authority to refuse to provide documents or testimony to the committee.
Bannon’s team provided Trump’s new letter to the committee on the night of Jan. 6, along with a letter from Bannon’s attorney, Bob Costello.
“While Mr. Bannon was steadfast in his convictions, circumstances have now changed,” Costello wrote. “Mr. Bannon is willing and indeed prefers to testify at your public hearing.”
The Jan. 6 committee has been interested in speaking with Bannon about his communications with Trump in December 2020, when Bannon reportedly urged him to focus on certifying the results of the Jan. 6 presidential election. Committee members were also interested in Bannon’s comments in the run-up to the Capitol riot, including a Jan. 5 podcast in which he predicted, “Tomorrow all hell will break loose.”
Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to the contempt charges, was scheduled to stand trial on July 18. Giving testimony wouldn’t necessarily absolve him of contempt charges, so it’s unclear how his upcoming trial will be affected if Bannon hits out at the committee to testify. He is due in court for a hearing on his case on Monday.
A spokesman for the commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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