Bannon on Saturday told the committee that he is now willing to testify, ideally at a public hearing, according to a letter obtained by CNN. He had previously defied a congressional subpoena and is set to go on trial on criminal contempt charges later this month. The reversal came after he received a letter from Trump waiving executive privilege, although both the House select committee and federal prosecutors contend that privilege claim never gave Bannon carte blanche to ignore a congressional subpoena in the first place.
According to prosecutors, Bannon’s “attorney misrepresented to the Committee what the former President’s counsel had told the Defendant’s attorney.”
Prosecutors have previously cited emails from Clark telling Bannon’s attorney, Robert Costello, that the letter Costello cited to the committee did not, in fact, indicate that the White House believed Bannon could claim executive privilege.
“The former President’s counsel made clear to the Defendant’s attorney that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance,” prosecutors wrote in Monday’s filing.
The January 6 committee was interested in speaking to Bannon about his communications with Trump in December 2020, when Bannon reportedly urged him to focus on the January 6 certification of the presidential election results. Committee members were also interested in Bannon’s comments in the run-up to the Capitol insurrection, including a podcast on January 5, in which he predicted, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
In a Monday court filing, federal prosecutors called Bannon’s willingness to now testify before the House select committee a “last-minute” effort that doesn’t change the case against him, pointing out that he has not produced subpoenaed records.
“The Defendant’s last-minute efforts to testify almost nine months after his default — he has still made no effort to produce records — are irrelevant to whether he willfully refused to comply in October 2021 with the Select Committee’s subpoena,” prosecutors wrote.
“The criminal contempt statute is not intended to procure compliance; it is intended to punish past noncompliance,” prosecutors said.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Monday.
