A powerful one-two punch from the J6 (January 6th) House Select Committee effectively dazed and knocked out both Steve Bannon and Donald Trump over the past week.
Top News Today:
Former White House chief strategist-turned Donald Trump/MAGA flunkie Steve Bannon was convinced he was invincible and above the law. So, he flippantly ignored a congressional subpoena and refused to testify and tell all he knew about the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection. However, on Friday, Bannon’s delusions of grandeur and being above the law were shattered when he was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the mandatory subpoena.
Bannon was so convinced he was right that he never presented a case or even called a single witness during the trial. His lone defense was that he didn’t have to comply.
In contrast, the US Department of Justice presented a veritable master class of a case and described how Bannon “chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance to the law.”
For his part, the stunned and newly convicted Bannon displayed utter disdain for the verdict, the J6 committee, and anyone who didn’t permit him to skirt the law.
“I only have one disappointment and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 Committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify in open court,” Bannon said in post-trial remarks. “We may have lost the battle here today but we’re not going to lose the war,” he added.
Prior to the trial, Bannon was a cocky blowhard who was certain he would win and be given carte blanche in being above the law.
“I’m telling you right now, this is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden,” Bannon boasted to the press. “We’re going on the offense, we’re tired of playing defense, we’re going to the offense on this and stand by.”
Well, the press was not about to let His Royal Cockiness off the hook after the trial.
“This didn’t seem like the misdemeanor from hell, Mr. Bannon,” a reporter shouted. “What happened?”
An embarrassed Steve Bannon looked away and refused to acknowledge the reporter or the question.
Bannon was “funny” because he was “full of bluster and swashbuckling and then we didn’t hear, you know, he didn’t speak at his own trial,” said CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
“Yeah, it’s kind of amazing how far it was from that,” CNN’s Sara Murray replied. “He ultimately did not put forward a defense, he did not take the stand on his behalf, they did not call witnesses. There was, as always with Steve Bannon, a whole lot of bluster going into this. Certainly, it was not the misdemeanor from hell at this point for Nancy Pelosi, I think that’s fair to say.”
Bannon’s two misdemeanor counts each carry a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 1 year in jail, as well as a fine of $100 to $100,000.
Predictably, Steve Bannon says he plans to appeal the verdict.
The House Select Committee also hit a home run against Donald Trump during a Thursday prime-time public hearing.
During its final public hearing of the summer, the J6 committee laser-focused on Trump’s 187 minutes of inaction as rioters descended upon the Capitol and scoured the grounds for former VP Mike Pence with the intent to hang him.
“The mob was accomplishing President Trump’s purpose, and he did not intervene,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republican committee members.
Next, the committee showed never-before-seen outtakes of Trump practicing his statement on the day after the attack. In the footage, Trump stopped reading from the teleprompter and objected to saying a phrase that was written for him.
“I don’t want to say the election is over,” an irritated Trump said.
Additionally, Thursday’s J6 hearing featured former national security council official Matthew Pottinger, as well as former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, both of whom abruptly resigned after the Capitol attack.
As White House staffers watched the violence erupt at the Capitol, Matthews said she “couldn’t believe” that they were arguing over Trump’s response and seemed taken aback that a colleague didn’t want to condemn the rioting because doing so would be “handing a win to the media.”
“I couldn’t believe that we were arguing over this in the middle of the West Wing. And so, I motioned up at the TV and said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re f*cking winning? Because I don’t think it does,'” Matthews said.
One of the most shocking moments of the Thursday testimony came when the J6 committee reminded us of the Trump tweet that said Vice President Mike Pence did not have the “courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” The committee then showed footage that suggested many of the rioters took his words as a literal call to arms against the vice president.
That is the moment the Secret Service detail guarding Mike Pence collectively became nervous and was sure that their lives were all in danger.
“The members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives,” an anonymous White House security official testified. “I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members and so forth. The VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.”
The multiple testimonies during the 8th public hearing of the summer completely eviscerated Trump, turned more Republican voters against him, and could impact his decision to run for president in 2024.
According to committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, more hearings might happen in the fall when the committee is expected to wrap its investigation and issue a final report to Congress.
“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day. I’m fighting hard … to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again.”
– Rep. Liz Cheney
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OK WASSUP! discusses the Top News Today:
J6 committee damages Donald Trump and Steve Bannon.
CNN: The conviction of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress marks an important moment — not only in holding him individually accountable, but also in bringing to justice those who plotted to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election. This is the first trial involving a member of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle at the time of the former president’s assault on the 2020 election results. And, on Friday, our legal system called Bannon’s bluff after he defied a subpoena to appear before the January 6 House select committee. Even though Bannon’s conviction is for contempt, rather than for an underlying crime, the principle remains the same. For more than two centuries, America has been a society bound by the rule of law, not the rule of men — and we need to keep it that way. Bannon’s case was weak from the start. Opening… Read more »