Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist and ally of former US President Donald Trump who faces criminal charges after months of resisting a congressional subpoena for the Capitol riot, told a House committee investigating the attack. that he is now ready to testify.
Bannon’s reversal was delivered in a letter late Saturday from his lawyer, lawmakers said, as the committee prepares to air some of its most damning revelations this week against Trump in what could be its final series of hearings.
“I expect we’ll hear from him and there are a lot of questions we have for him,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. She and other members of the committee said in televised interviews Sunday that they intended to have Bannon sit for a private interview, which they usually conduct when testifying under oath.
Bannon has been one of Trump’s most prominent allies, refusing to testify before the committee, which led to two criminal contempt charges against Congress last year for resisting a committee subpoena. He argued that his testimony was protected by Trump’s claims of executive privilege. The committee said such a claim is dubious because Trump fired Bannon from the White House in 2017, and therefore Bannon was a private individual when he consulted with the then-president in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, uprising.
However, in recent days, as the former president grew frustrated with what he described as a one-sided performance by the committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans, Trump said he would drop that request for privilege, according to a letter Saturday to the lawyer for Bannon.
Bannon is seen with then-President Donald Trump at the White House in January 2017. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
“If you agree to a time and place for your testimony, I will waive executive privilege for you to come in and testify truthfully and honestly as requested by an unelected committee of political thugs and hacks,” Trump wrote.
Thursday night’s committee hearing will examine more than three hours in which Trump failed to act as a crowd of supporters stormed the Capitol. It will be the first prime-time hearing since its June 9 debut, which was watched by 20 million people.
Tuesday’s hearing will focus on the plotting and planning of the uprising by white nationalist groups such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, and will also highlight testimony taken Friday by former White House adviser Pat Cipollone.
It comes after surprise testimony last month from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who provided the most compelling evidence yet that Trump may be connected to a federal crime. Since then, the committee has seen an influx of new information and confidential advice.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland suggested that Bannon “had a change of heart, and after seeing probably all these people come forward, including Cassidy Hutchinson, he decided he wanted in, and if he wanted in, . I’m sure the committee will be very interested in him.”
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Bannon’s trial on both criminal charges is set for July 18. A hearing in his case was scheduled for Monday in federal court in Washington. Bannon wanted a delay in the trial to at least fall.
It’s unclear how much Bannon intends to cooperate. He has expressed a preference to appear before the committee at a public hearing. The commission makes it clear that he must first appear for a private interview, usually under oath. It is also possible that he may choose to appear and then refuse to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
“The way we’ve treated every single witness is the same, they come, they talk to the committee there,” Raskin said. “If they’re going to testify, they’re under oath. It is recorded on video. It gets recorded and then we take it from there.”
The committee says it wants to hear from Bannon because he “had specific knowledge of the events planned for January 6 before they occurred.” He cited as an example comments he made on his podcast the day before the riot.
“It’s not going to happen the way you think it’s going to happen. Okay, it’s going to be pretty wildly different. All I can say is hang in there,” Bannon said on this podcast. “All hell’s going to break loose tomorrow… So many people said, ‘Man, if I was in a revolution, I’d be in Washington.’ Well, this is your time in history.”
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