The January 6 committee could soon hear from Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, said panel member Rep. Zoe Lofgren on Sunday.
Lofgren joined CNN’s State of The Union where she confirmed the outlet’s report that Bannon is willing to testify in the committee’s investigation.
Her fellow committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, sat for a separate interview on CBS News’ Face The Nation where he was less forthcoming about future witnesses but vowed their investigation would make Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal ‘look like the work of Cub Scouts’ when lawmakers were through.
Bannon’s lack of cooperation with the committee thus far landed him with a criminal contempt charge for defying the panel’s subpoena.
But his testimony could be the smoking gun that House lawmakers need to prove that last year’s attack on the US Capitol was not an incidental outbreak of violence but rather the ‘last stand’ by Trump and his allies in their attempt to cling to power.
‘Well, we got the letter around midnight from his lawyer saying that he would testify. And we have wanted him to testify,’ Lofgren told host Jake Tapper.
‘So the committee, of course, has not yet had a chance to discuss it, but I expect that we will be hearing from him. And there are many questions that we have for him.’
The California Democrat pointed out that their normal first step for witnesses is a closed-door deposition under oath – which could be a sticking point in negotiations for his testimony.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren said she expects the January 6 committee, of which she is a member, will be ‘hearing from’ former Trump adviser Steve Bannon
In the letter obtained by CNN, Bannon’s lawyers specify that Bannon is ‘willing to, and indeed prefers’ to testify at a public hearing rather than a private interview.
‘Ordinarily, we do depositions. This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered. And you can’t do that in a live format,’ Lofgren said.
Bannon had been present at the Willard Hotel the night of January 5 into January 6, when Trump’s allies formed a ‘war room’ to hatch a legal strategy to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory the next day.
He’s believed to have spoken with Trump by phone personally that night.
The former Trump adviser’s lawyer stated in his letter that Bannon did not have ‘a change of posture or of heart’ but was rather bound from cooperating via executive privilege from the ex-president.
Biden, the current president, had made clear that he would not invoke executive privilege over White House matters in the committee’s investigation.
But Bannon’s attorney also provided a copy of a letter from Trump, in which the former president said to his onetime aide: ‘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 our Country.’
‘Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows for you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly, as per the request of the Unselect Committee of political Thugs and Hacks,’ Trump wrote.
Bannon’s lawyer informed the committee that he was willing to testify because Donald Trump had lifted his executive privilege restriction
It’s possible Bannon could be offering to testify in a bid to soften the Justice Department’s case against him ahead of his trial beginning July 18.
If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and a fine of anywhere between $100 to $100,000.
Bannon is one of two former Trump advisers who the Justice Department charged with contempt of Congress following the House of Representatives’ recommendation to do so. Federal prosecutors have not gone after former Trump aide Dan Scavino and ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who the House also voted to refer for charges.
Maryland Democratic lawmaker Raskin was less forthcoming than Lofgren when asked about the possibility of Bannon’s testimony.
‘I understand from reports today, he’s had a change of heart, and after watching, presumably, all of these people come forward, including Cassidy Hutchinson he’s decided that he wants to come in,’ Raskin said.
‘And if he wants to come in, I’m certain that the committee would be very interested in hearing from him.’
Asked about what Americans will be left with after the final two hearings the committee is expecting to put on, he said: ‘The attempt to overthrow the result of a presidential election through a political coup, and the mobilization of an armed violent mob cannot really be compared to anything else a president has done.’
‘It makes the Watergate break-in look like the work of Cub Scouts.’
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