(JustPatriots.com)- Lawyers for the House of Representatives filed an odd brief recently, backing the Department of Justice and arguing that a contempt of Congress case should proceed against former Donald Trump advisor Steven Bannon.
In the filing, the lawyers wrote that the arguments Bannon has made so far for evading prosecution in his case are “deeply flawed.” As such, he should face trial as is currently scheduled for July.
The filing was done in response to a recent request by Bannon to have the federal charges thrown out by a federal judge. Bannon was charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House’s January 6 investigating committee.
Along with releasing the brief on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also issued a statement that read:
“No one is above the law. As the House’s amicus brief makes crystal clear, the subpoena of Steve Bannon issued by the Select Committee is legally valid, urgently needed, and must be enforced.
“Bannon is a key witness to the January 6th Insurrection, who holds information central to the House’s investigative and legislative efforts to defend American Democracy.”
Bannon was indicted by a grand jury in November on the contempt charges. The House had previously referred his case to the DOJ to be prosecuted criminally.
In arguing his case, Bannon has said that the subpoena issued to him isn’t lawful. The subpoena is invalid, he has argued, because of how the committee is made up. He also has said that the House committee has targeted him “to send a message to other potential deponents.”
House lawyers, in turn, have argued that three judges in the past have already rejected arguments similar to that one. They also denied that the House investigating committee is targeting him in any way.
They wrote:
“[Bannon] was a central player in the lead-up to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. He played a pivotal role in constructing and participating in the ‘stop the steal’ public relations effort that motivated the attack, and he planned certain other activities in advance of January 6th that are of interest to the Select Committee.”
In their brief, the House lawyers referred to public statements Bannon made leading up to January 6, 2021. He both encouraged and predicted “unprecedented and violent events on January 6th,” which obviously eventually happened.
Just one day before the pro-Trump rally and subsequent attack on the Capitol building, Bannon said America was facing a “constitutional crisis … [and] that crisis is about to go up about five orders of magnitude tomorrow.”
Speaking on his podcast, he even said “[a]ll hell is going to break loose tomorrow. … [S]o many people said, ‘Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington.’ Well, this is your time in history.”
The House lawyers filed the amicus brief to give further weight to the DOJ’s case against Bannon. The Democrat-led team is doing everything they can to keep the case on the docket before Bannon is able to convince a federal judge to dismiss the charges against him.
