Longtime Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon should be barred from claiming at trial that he was relying on legal advice from the former president’s lawyer when he balked at lawmakers’ subpoenas, prosecutors told a judge.
Bannon, who goes on trial in July on charges that he obstructed a House probe into the Jan. 6 insurrection, shouldn’t be permitted to distract jurors with a defense that has no merit, the Justice Department said in a filing Friday night in Washington, D.C.
“The deliberate failure to comply with a congressional subpoena — regardless of motivation — constitutes the crime of contempt,” the government said. “The Supreme Court has long affirmed that, once a congressional committee has directed a witness to comply with a congressional subpoena, it is the witness who risks contempt by continuing not to do so. ”
Bannon pleaded not guilty in November and suggested the House select committee probing the storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters is illegitimate. The former Trump campaign chairman and White House strategist earlier surrendered his passport and was released on his own recognizance.
After Bannon failed to produce documents under the subpoena on Oct. 7 or appear for a deposition a week later, he submitted an excerpt of a letter he received from Trump’s lawyer saying he believed the subpoena called for privileged information, according to the filing.
