WASHINGTON – With his criminal trial for contempt in nearby Congress, Stephen K. Bannon, an ally of former President Donald J. Trump who participated in his plans to cancel the 2020 election, has informed the committee of the House investigating the attack on the Capitol is now ready to testify, according to two letters obtained by The New York Times.
His decision is a remarkable change of face for Mr. Bannon, who until Saturday had been one of the committee’s most stubborn and challenging potential witnesses. He had promised to turn the criminal case against him into the “minor crime of hell” for the Department of Justice.
But with the possibility of two years in prison and large fines on the horizon, Mr. Bannon has been authorized to testify by Mr. Trump, his lawyer told the committee in a letter Saturday afternoon.
The former president had previously ordered Mr. Bannon and other associates who did not cooperate with the group, alleging that the executive’s privilege — the power of a president to retain certain internal information from the executive branch, especially confidential communications involving him or his chief aides – forced them to remain silent. . But in recent days, as several witnesses have come forward to offer the House panel a convicting testimony about his conduct, Mr. Trump has been frustrated because one of his fiercest advocates has yet to appear before the committee, people close to him said.
“Mr. Bannon is willing to testify, and prefers, to your public hearing, ”wrote Robert J. Costello, Mr. Bannon, to Representative Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat and committee chair.
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Mr. Costello said Mr. Bannon’s compliance with the committee’s summons came after Mr. Trump would allow him to testify. He provided the panel with a letter that Mr. Trump sent Mr. Bannon who waived any claim of executive privilege over this testimony.
The committee and the Department of Justice have long maintained that Mr. Trump has no valid executive privilege claim on Mr. Trump’s testimony. Bannon, in part because Mr. Bannon left the White House in 2017 and was a private citizen when he was involved in Mr. Trump’s efforts to maintain power after the 2020 election.
“When you first received the subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked the privilege of the executive,” Mr. Trump in his letter to Mr. Bannon Saturday. “However, I saw how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend large sums of money on legal fees and all the trauma you have to suffer for love of your country and out of respect for the office of president. . ”
“Therefore,” he continued, “if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive the executive privilege for you, which will allow you to enter and testify truthfully and fairly, as per the application. of the unselected person. committee of thugs and political pirates “.
The trial of Mr. Bannon for two counts of criminal contempt in Congress is scheduled for July 18. Each charge carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $ 100,000 fine.
It remains to be seen how it will affect the new stance of Mr. Bannon the criminal process and to what extent it will be. He could refuse to talk about certain issues, citing his right to the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, as some other witnesses have done. But the committee has repeatedly said it needs to hear from Mr. Bannon and receive the documents he asked about plans to cancel the 2020 election.
“We received the letter around midnight from his lawyer saying he would testify, and we wanted him to testify,” California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California and a member of the committee, told CNN on Sunday. “So the committee, of course, hasn’t had a chance to discuss it yet, but I hope we get news of it. And there are a lot of questions we have for it.”
If finally Mr. Bannon is appearing for an interview, he would give his testimony behind closed doors as hundreds of other witnesses have done, Ms. Lofgren. The committee has carefully choreographed its public hearings to make a rational presentation of its case, and has worked to avoid public training sessions with witnesses.
For months, Mr. Bannon has been perhaps the most bombastic and strict potential witness the committee has called to testify. He refused to hand over a single document or sit within a minute of testimony. Because of his intransigence, the House voted in October to keep Mr. Bannon as a criminal contempt in Congress.
But the panel has insisted that Mr. Bannon, the former chief strategist and advisor to Mr. Trump, could help researchers better understand the January 6, 2021 attack, which sought to stop President Biden’s certification of victory.
In his January 5, 2021 radio show, Mr. Bannon promised that “all hell will spread tomorrow,” a statement showing that “I had some preconception about extreme events that would occur the next day,” the committee said. in a report.
Investigators have also pointed out a conversation that Mr. Bannon kept up with Mr. Trump on December 30, 2020, urging him to focus his efforts on January 6, the day Congress was due to make the official counting of election votes to confirm Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Bannon was also present at a meeting at the Willard Hotel in Washington the day before the violence, when plans to try to undo the election results the next day were discussed.
Mr. Bannon’s criminal case is only the latest against him.
Federal prosecutors charged and arrested him last year in Manhattan on charges related to money raised to promote the construction of the long-sought border wall by Mr. Trump. But before facing trial, he was pardoned preemptively by Mr. Trump hours before the former president left office.