The political world is turning somersaults over the potential Steve Bannon testimony before the Jan. 6 House Select Committee. Has Hell frozen over?
Politics :
Steve Bannon, who was once Donald Trump’s chief political strategist and “right-hand man” inside The White House is likely the one guy in Trump’s orbit who knows where “all the bodies are buried.” For this reason, Congress has tried but failed multiple times to get him to tell what he knows and provide some valuable Steve Bannon testimony regarding Trump and the events of the January 6th Capitol Hill insurrection.
However, after ignoring subpoenas for so long, Bannon is now finally telling Congress he is ready to testify. But why? What’s his game here?
According to the chief attorney for the US House of Representatives, Bannon’s motive is not on the level. In fact, the belief is that he wants to turn any appearance before the House committee into a “political circus.”
“It seems clear that Mr. Bannon’s trying to turn this into some kind of political circus,” said House general counsel Doug Letter. “That cannot be allowed.”
In fact, not only is Bannon seeming to attempt to mock the congressional inquiry that he has ignored for so long, but even Donald Trump himself has gotten into the act.
Over the weekend, Trump sent a letter to Congress waiving Bannon from executive privilege and giving his personal permission for the Steve Bannon testimony to take place.
“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote in the letter to Bannon.
“Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly as per the request of the unselect committee of political thugs and hacks,” he added.
Umm… the only problem here is that Donald Trump does not have the authority to invoke or waive executive privilege related to anyone or anything since he is not the sitting president. Only President Joe Biden can do so and so far, Mr. Biden has issued zero protections for Steve Bannon or anyone else from the Trump years.
So, what’s really going on here?
Steve Bannon was charged last year with 2 counts of criminal contempt of Congress for flipping his nose at their request for testimony. His argument is that he was free to ignore the congressional subpoena in order to protect Trump’s potential privilege claims. However, federal prosecutors and other legal experts say that privilege doesn’t apply to Bannon, since he left his White House gig as chief strategist years before the Capitol riot. Additionally, no protections exist that can give him the authority to refuse to provide documents or testimony to the committee.
So, why does Bannon suddenly want to cooperate and testify now? And why is Donald Trump miraculously gung-ho about his right-hand man speaking to those “thugs” and “hacks” on the House Select Committee?
Trump recognizes that the committee hearings have gone almost perfectly against him. The truth has been revealed. He has no MAGA/GOP representatives on the committee to protect him and look out for his best interests. A top White House aide delivered damning testimony that was impossible to spin in his favor. In short, Trump is bruised and beaten now and Republicans are beginning to turn their backs on him.
By volunteering a bit of Steve Bannon testimony before the committee, Trump believes his former strategist can get in front of the House members and make a mockery of them all. Perhaps he can catch them all up in a trap and make them look bad. Perhaps he can flip momentum and turn public sentiment back in favor of Trump.
The truth is that Trump wants to deflect all the negative attention away from himself. He wants a circus. After all, he thrives best inside the center of 3 rings.
Too bad for Bannon and for Trump that their hopes to turn this all around in their favor are nothing but a pipe dream.
OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
The proposed Steve Bannon testimony will be a circus.
The truth is that Trump wants to deflect all the negative attention away from himself. He wants a circus. After all, he thrives best inside the center of 3 rings. Too bad for Bannon and for Trump that their hopes to turn this all around in their favor are nothing but a pipe dream. […] – DJ
Great post DJ! The entire read is absolutely Spot On!
These hearings have done great damage to the head clown and his clownish minions, including Bannon. Btw yesterday’s hearing was a jaw-dropper too.
And yes, Trump and Bannon are trying to seize any opportunity to turn the hearings into a 3 ring circus because frankly they’re desperate and that’s all they’ve got left.