Trump never invoked executive privilege keeping Bannon from testifying: DOJ

Max Thornberry

July 11, 08:49 AM July 11, 08:49 AM

Former President Donald Trump never invoked executive privilege to keep Steve Bannon from testifying before the Jan. 6 committee.

After reversing course over the weekend and telling the Jan. 6 committee he was willing to testify publicly, U.S. attorneys undercut Bannon’s change of attitude. Rather than Trump waiving executive privilege, attorneys argued Bannon is trying to curry favor with the committee before his contempt trial starts next week.

STEVE BANNON TELLS JAN. 6 COMMITTEE HE IS WILLING TO TESTIFY

“The Defendant’s timing suggests that the only thing that has really changed since he refused to comply with the subpoena in October 2021 is that he is finally about to face the consequences of his decision to default,” U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn wrote in a filing. “On June 15, 2022, the Court denied his motion to dismiss the indictment; he is now one week from trial.”

Besides Bannon’s claim that Trump recently waived the executive privilege that was preventing Bannon from testifying, Vaughn wrote that Justin Clark, a former Trump attorney whom the Justice Department interviewed, rebutted several of Bannon’s other claims.

“The former President never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials; that the former President’s counsel never asked or was asked to attend the Defendant’s deposition before the Select Committee; that the Defendant’s attorney misrepresented to the Committee what the former President’s counsel had told the Defendant’s attorney; and that the former President’s counsel made clear to the Defendant’s attorney that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance,” Vaughn wrote.

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Vaughn blasted Bannon’s efforts to offer public testimony, highlighting that Bannon didn’t offer to comply with the subpoena to turn over documents to the committee. If the committee does allow Bannon to testify, the DOJ argued that anything he says should not be admissible in his contempt trial.

“The Defendant apparently has not told the Committee he wishes to provide documents responsive to the subpoena, so his eleventh-hour efforts do nothing to begin to cure his failure to produce records,” Vaughn wrote. “Instead, his continued failure to comply with the subpoena’s document demand while claiming he now will testify suggests his actions are little more than an attempt to change the optics of his contempt on the eve of trial, not an actual effort at compliance.”