Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks sent a letter Monday to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson calling on him and the House GOP to back the legal defense of former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon before he is sent to prison.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which calls on Johnson to direct the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to file an amicus brief in support of Bannon’s June 21, 2024, Emergency Application for Continued Release Pending Appeal to the Supreme Court, saying it would have his full support. Bannon has been ordered to turn himself in by July 1 to start his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
“I write today regarding the Justice Department’s prosecution of former senior advisors to President Trump, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, both who have been sentenced to prison for failing to comply with subpoenas from the Committee. I believe that several factors separate the committee’s illegitimate and unenforceable subpoenas from lawfully issued congressional subpoenas,” Banks wrote in the letter.
In May of 2022, then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy filed an amicus brief in the contempt of Congress case against Bannon arguing that the Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is exceeding its authority under the rules of the lower chamber.
The House of Representatives voted in October to hold Bannon in contempt after he refused to testify in front of the committee. He is one of four ex-Trump administration officials to be held in contempt by the House, along with former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and former economics adviser Peter Navarro. Unlike the other three, Bannon was not employed by the White House during the 2020 election and its aftermath, serving instead in 2017.
In a motion to dismiss filed in April of 2022, Bannon and his attorneys argue that his contempt charges are unlawful because the Select Committee violates the rules of the House of Representatives due to its lack of a minority-appointed ranking member. McCarthy’s brief supports that position, noting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi described an “‘unprecedented’ approach to forming the Select Committee.”
“Thanks to Chairman Loudermilk’s work, we now know that the Committee deleted hundreds of records shortly before the 118th Congress and the start of the House Republican majority. This willful destruction of evidence violates House Rules, and because the improperly destroyed documents potentially included evidence of the Committee’s misconduct, they could have assisted either Mr. Bannon’s or Mr. Navarro’s defenses during future appeals. Given the Committee’s unprecedented, norm-shattering behavior, and partisan motives and structure, if you were to direct the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to file an amicus brief in support of Mr. Bannon’s June 21, 2024, Emergency Application for Continued Release Pending Appeal to the Supreme Court, it would have my full support,” Banks continued. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Comms Between Cassidy Hutchinson, Fani Willis’ Office For J6 Investigation)
READ THE LETTER HERE:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
“The January 6th Committee tossed aside 200 years of congressional precedent, destroyed evidence, and repeatedly broke House Rules to carry out a political vendetta and cover up Nancy Pelosi and never-Trumper’s role in the security disaster on January 6th. It was a fake investigation, and Republicans should urge the Supreme Court to follow established precedent and throw away its illegitimate subpoenas,” Banks told the Caller before sending the letter. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Call Out Cassidy Hutchinson’s J6 Testimony, Threaten Subpoena If She Does Not Produce Documents)
Earlier in June, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison introduced a resolution to revoke subpoenas the J6 committee sent to Bannon, Meadows, Navarro and Scavino. The resolution would also pull the contempt of Congress resolutions against them.
