Bannon Gets Revenge On Corrupt Fed Prosecutors – ‘This Has Nothing To Do With Jan. 6’

by

OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion

The federal prosecutors investigating Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress admitted Wednesday that before spying on Steve Bannon’s lawyer they did not seek the approval of higher-ups within the Justice Department.

Bannon won a major victory on Wednesday when a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over internal documents related to their decision to prosecute him.

It was apparent that U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols was disturbed by what seemed to be an unusual move on the part of prosecutors, and asked them repeatedly why it was considered appropriate to obtain records of Robert Costello’s (Bannon’s lawyer) private phone calls, texts, and emails.

According to Nichols, Bannon’s team should also be given ‘statements or writings’ from the Justice Department that explain why Bannon should be charged with contempt of Congress, given the precedent of former presidential advisers being immune to subpoenas.

As the lead prosecutor on the case, Amanda Vaughn testified that the DOJ did not seek the content of any correspondence, but instead sought ‘toll records,’ to find out to whom and when Costello was writing or calling.

Prosecutors admitted in court that they sought Costello’s records from telecom companies rather than asking him directly for them, which would have required a thorough review by DOJ.

Lawyers Evan Corcoran and David Schoen, who represented Bannon, were appalled.

‘That… is absurd on its face. There is a special relationship between an attorney and their client,’ Schoen complained to the judge. ‘Hopefully the inspector general sees things differently.’

‘What on Earth were they going to tell from the records? They knew he was communicating [with Bannon,]’ Schoen angrily continued. ‘I think what happened is outrageous.’

The judge noted he would understand if the Bannon team sought reprimands for investigators or referred the matter to a watchdog agency, but held back for the moment.

Bannon responded to the witch hunt while outside of the courtroom, saying, ‘The behavior of the FBI and, quite frankly, DOJ has been outrageous to my attorney and the attorney-client privilege.’

‘Everything that was in the background of this, everything that went to the grand jury. Everything ought to come out,’ Bannon argued.

In the meantime, Bannon asserted that his case had nothing to do with Jan. 6 and that he was focused on taking down Biden.

‘What is essential to my work is taking down the illegitimate regime of the Biden administration and I do it every day,’ he told reporters outside the D.C. courthouse on Wednesday. ‘I do not consider them legitimate. I’ve stated this many times. I think the election on November 3rd was stolen and I’ve gone at publicly day after day after day. I do not consider them legitimate.

I’ve said this many times. I think this election on November 3rd was stolen. And I’ve gone out publicly day after day after day. Number two, to make sure this November by an overwhelming vote we destroy the Democratic Party as a political institution. Which we will do.’

A local news reporter responded: “The word Destroy may be troubling in the wake of January 6.”

Bannon hit back: “No, no, no, no… I said at the ballot box. You’ve seen all the polling. You’ve seen how we’re doing in South Texas among Hispanics. You’ve seen how we’re doing among African Americans. The illegitimate regime’s polling is at all-time lows. So don’t put words in my mouth and don’t try to spin it, I said at the ballot box, overwhelming, and we’re going to take a 100 seat majority.”

Royce White, the GOP candidate running against Ilhan Omar in MN-CD5, tweeted out a video of Bannon arriving at the courthouse stating: “A clarion call for the America first populist movement from my friend, mentor and national hero Steve Bannon. I’m with you until the end brother. God Bless America!” Bannon mentioned White as he spoke.

Bannon pleaded not guilty to the contempt charge in November, promising to turn it into a ‘misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden’.

The case took an unexpected turn in February when Bannon’s attorneys revealed that the FBI had secretly spied on his attorney, believing they had discovered a way to derail the investigation.

Among the new disclosures the lawyers made is that they learned the government was trying to obtain Costello’s phone and email records after it produced 790 documents as part of the case against Bannon.

The spying occurred as Costello met with prosecutors ‘as Mr. Bannon’s attorney, in what he thought were good-faith pre-indictment discussions’ – with no indication that any ‘taint team’ was being formed to scrutinize sensitive evidence.

Attorneys for Bannon slammed the investigation as ‘outrageous and inappropriate Government misconduct,’ calling on the feds to share the subpoena used to obtain the info, as well as who at the Justice Department approved it, which does not appear they did.

Source: The Republic Brief