WASHINGTON –
Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon told a congressional panel investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, that he was ready to testify, a change of heart days before he was to be tried in contempt of Congress.
In a letter to the committee seen by Reuters, Bannon’s lawyer Robert Costello wrote that the former president would drop the claims of executive privilege Bannon cited in refusing to appear before the committee.
Bannon, a prominent figure in right-wing media circles who served as Trump’s chief strategist in 2017, is scheduled to stand trial on July 18 on two felony counts of contempt for refusing to testify or provide documents.
The letter from the lawyer said Bannon preferred to testify publicly, but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat on the committee, told CNN that the committee usually takes testimony behind closed doors.
“It goes on hour after hour after hour. We want to get answers to all our questions. And you can’t do that in a live format,” Lofgren said. “There are a lot of questions we have for him.
During House committee hearings, videotapes of in camera testimony of sworn witnesses were shown to the public.
Trump fumed that none of his supporters testified in his defense at the committee hearings, which, apart from the trial, have focused on an attack by Trump supporters who want to stop congressional certification of Trump’s defeat of Joe Biden in November 2020 elections.
In a letter from Trump to Bannon seen by Reuters, Trump said he was waiving executive privilege because he was “watching how unfairly you and others are being treated.”
The House panel is scheduled to hold public hearings Tuesday and Thursday this week.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Howard Goller)
Add Comment