Jan. 6 panel votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection voted unanimously Tuesday to clasp erstwhile White House adjutant Steve Bannon successful contempt of Congress aft the longtime state of erstwhile President Donald Trump defied a subpoena for documents and testimony.

Still defending his supporters who broke into the Capitol that day, Trump has aggressively tried to artifact the committee’s enactment by directing Bannon and others not to reply questions successful the probe. Trump has besides filed a suit to effort to forestall Congress from obtaining erstwhile White House documents.

But lawmakers person made wide they volition not backmost down arsenic they stitchery facts and grounds astir the onslaught involving Trump’s supporters that near dozens of constabulary officers injured, sent lawmakers moving for their lives and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Tuesday that Bannon “stands unsocial successful his implicit defiance of our subpoena” and the sheet volition not instrumentality nary for an answer.

He said that portion Bannon whitethorn beryllium “willing to beryllium a martyr to the disgraceful origin of whitewashing what happened connected January 6th — of demonstrating his implicit loyalty to the erstwhile president,” the contempt ballot is simply a informing to different witnesses.

“We won’t beryllium deterred. We won’t beryllium distracted. And we won’t beryllium delayed,” Thompson said.

The Tuesday evening ballot sends the contempt solution to the afloat House, which is expected to ballot connected the measurement Thursday. House support would nonstop the substance to the Justice Department, which would past determine whether to prosecute transgression charges against Bannon.

The contempt solution asserts that the erstwhile Trump adjutant and podcast big has nary ineligible lasting to rebuff the committee — adjacent arsenic Trump’s lawyer has argued that Bannon should not disclose accusation due to the fact that it is protected by the privilege of the erstwhile president’s office. The committee noted that Bannon, fired from his White House occupation successful 2017, was a backstage national erstwhile helium spoke to Trump up of the attack. And Trump has not asserted immoderate specified enforcement privilege claims to the sheet itself, lawmakers said.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney — 1 of conscionable 2 Republicans connected the committee, and a uncommon GOP professional of Trump — said Bannon and Trump’s privilege arguments suggest the erstwhile president was “personally involved” successful the readying and execution of the day’s events.

“We volition get to the bottommost of that,” Cheney said.

The committee says it is pursuing Bannon’s grounds due to the fact that of his reported communications with Trump up of the siege, his efforts to get the erstwhile president to absorption connected the legislature certification of the ballot Jan. 6 and his comments connected Jan. 5 that “all hellhole is going to interruption loose” the adjacent day.

Bannon “appears to person had aggregate roles applicable to this investigation, including his relation successful constructing and participating successful the ‘stop the steal’ nationalist relations effort that motivated the attack” and “his efforts to program governmental and different enactment successful beforehand of January 6th,” the committee wrote successful the solution recommending contempt.

The Biden White House has besides rejected Bannon’s claims, with Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su penning Bannon’s lawyer this week to accidental that “at this constituent we are not alert of immoderate ground for your client’s refusal to look for a deposition.” Biden’s judgement that enforcement privilege is not justified, Su wrote, “applies to your client’s deposition grounds and to immoderate documents your lawsuit whitethorn possess.”

Asked past week if the Justice Department should prosecute those who garbage to testify, Biden said yes. But the Justice Department rapidly pushed back, with a spokesperson saying the section would marque its ain decisions.

While Bannon has said helium needs a tribunal bid earlier complying with his subpoena, erstwhile White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and erstwhile White House and Pentagon adjutant Kashyap Patel person been negotiating with the committee. The sheet has besides subpoenaed much than a twelve radical who helped program Trump rallies up of the siege, and immoderate of them are already turning implicit documents and giving testimony.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said each the different witnesses who were subpoenaed are “either complying oregon acting successful bully religion arsenic opposed to conscionable blowing america off,” arsenic Bannon has.

The committee is besides conducting voluntary closed-door interviews with different witnesses who person travel guardant oregon instantly complied with their requests.

For immoderate of the witnesses, Raskin said, “it’s a privilege and truly an accidental for them to statesman to marque amends, if they were progressive successful these events.” Some of them “feel unspeakable astir the relation they played,” helium said.

Still, determination could beryllium much contempt votes to come.

“I won’t spell into details successful presumption of the backmost and forth, but I’ll conscionable accidental our patience is not infinite,” said Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the panel’s different Republican, astir immoderate of the witnesser negotiations.

The ballot came a time aft Trump sued the committee and the National Archives to combat the merchandise of documents the committee has requested. Trump’s lawsuit, filed aft Biden said he’d let the documents’ release, claims that the panel’s August petition was overly wide and a “vexatious, amerciable sportfishing expedition.”

Trump’s suit seeks to invalidate the entirety of the legislature request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a situation to separation of powers. It requests a tribunal injunction to barroom the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, successful clearing the documents for release, said the convulsive siege of the Capitol much than 9 months agone was specified an bonzer condition that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Nomaan Merchant and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.