Guilty Verdict In Bannon’s Trial Likely To Be Overturned

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

Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House advisor, has been in court in D.C on contempt of Congress charges regarding the Jan 6 investigation.

On Friday, a jury returned two guilty verdicts against Bannon over his defiance of a subpoena from the House committee.

but it seems the fight is not over.

Politico reported on the verdict that “the significant restraints the judge put on the defenses Bannon could offer at trial raise issues that could find traction at an appeals court or even the Supreme Court.”

Now others and Bannon himself are speaking out about the verdict and Bannon’s future.

Attorney and former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz made a case when he appeared on the Newsmax show “The Record” with host Greta Van Susteren, arguing that former advisor to former President Donald Trump did not get a fair trial and that his conviction was likely to be negated.

The attorney said that Bannon was never going to get a fair trial in Washington D.C. because of the demographics of the city.

“What do you think of this verdict, and what do you think of what’s likely to happen to him?” the host said.

“Entirely predictable and entirely in violation of the Constitution. The only provision of the Constitution which appears basically twice is trial by jury, in front of a fair jury. Number one he didn’t have a fair jury. Number two the judge took his defenses away from him. The judge denied him a jury trial. They wouldn’t allow him to put on evidence that he believed there was an executive privilege involved and he wanted a judicial determination before he violated the executive privilege. That issue could not be presented to the jury,” he said.

“As I predicted on this show and other shows before this conviction was a foregone conclusion. The only issue is will it be reversed by an appeal. Either by the appellate court in the District of Columbia or by the Supreme Court. I think its very likely that this conviction will be reversed at some point,” he said.

Bannon as well defended himself and stated his position on a televised interview on Fox News.

The onetime top counsel to then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump responded with fire during an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” telling the host that he’s more committed than ever to the former president.

As he introduced the segment, Carlson noted that on the same day Bannon was convicted, New York authorities released a man who was arrested a day earlier after he lunged at GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin with a sharp object in an attempt to cause him bodily harm, as Zeldin was campaigning for governor.

“A guy who tried to murder a gubernatorial candidate in New York was released with no bail. What are we to make of these two events occurring the same day?” he asked Bannon.

“As you can tell, the Democrats are completely lawless and look how they’ve run this committee,” Bannon said, before he said, “There is no ranking member. There’s no minority counsel. It’s not like the traditional hearings that have galvanized the nation in the past.”

Bannon was referencing the Jan. 6 Committee, which was hand-selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The California Democrat also, in an unprecedented manner, refused to allow Republicans to seat their own members, which led House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other members to declare the panel a politicized sham.

Bannon called for a committee to investigate the investigating committee.

“We need a commission or committee on Jan. 6,” Bannon continued. “It’s got to be with the new Congress, with the Republicans in charge. We’ve got to get to the bottom of the intelligence failures, FBI involvement, DHS involvement, the intelligence services.”

“We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” he added.

“I would tell the January 6 [Committee] staff right now: Preserve your documents because there’s going to be a real committee. And this is going to be backed by Republican grassroots voters and MAGA to say we want to get to the bottom of this for the good of the nation,” Bannon continued.

Bannon went on to say that the federal court trying him for refusing to respond to a congressional subpoena from the panel to provide testimony refused to allow him and his lawyers “to mount a defense” and address the issue of “executive privilege,” which is why he and his legal team did not call any witnesses, reiterating the comments made by Dershowitz.

Bannon is adamant and committed to following through with the fight.

“They’re coming at us on every aspect. Look, they’re trying to shut you down,” he told Carlson. “[P]eople have to understand, right now, this is an ideological war, and we cannot lose. The fate of the country is [at stake] over the next couple of years.”

Source: The Republic Brief