#ExTrump #adviser #Bannon #agrees #testify #Capitol #riot #hearings #reports
Former Trump aide Steve Bannon has agreed to testify at the Capitol riot hearings days before he was due to appear in court for defying a subpoena from the committee of inquiry into the attack on Congress, US media reported on Sunday.
“Mr. Bannon is willing and preferring to testify at your public hearing,” his attorney Robert Costello wrote in a letter to the House Select Committee on Saturday, first reported by The Guardian and quoted by US media.
Bannon was among dozens of people subpoenaed to testify about last year’s attack on the Capitol, which aimed to incriminate Congress over former President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that Joe Biden won the 2020 election due to voter fraud. close.
Investigators believe Bannon and other Trump advisers may have information about ties between the White House and the mob that invaded the Capitol on the day Biden was to be confirmed as the winner.
Although he was not a White House aide or an official adviser to Trump, Bannon’s attorneys previously claimed he was protected by presidential privilege and did not have to work with the committee.
According to the letter explaining his about-face, Bannon told the House Select Committee that “circumstances have now changed.”
“President Trump has decided that it would be in the best interests of the American people to waive executive privilege for Stephen K. Bannon to allow Mr. Bannon to comply with the subpoena issued by your committee.”
In November last year, Bannon turned himself in to the FBI to face contempt of Congress charges after he refused to testify about the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
“I will never back down,” he told reporters at the time after appearing before a judge to hear the charges.
“We’re going on the offensive in that regard. And stand by,” he said, echoing the phrase Trump used during the 2020 election to encourage supporters of a far-right militia group.
Bannon, 68, was indicted by a grand jury for two misdemeanors, each carrying a penalty of one month to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
The attack, which killed five people, managed to delay the joint certification session for the House and Senate elections by several hours.
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