LOST: Steve Bannon’s defense lawyer just admitted he’s probably going to jail
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has lost again. This time in a courtroom by the Trump-appointed Judge Carl Nichols in his pre-trial case for contempt of Congress. Nichols refused to approve Bannon’s request to delay his trial — currently scheduled to begin on July 18th — until later this year.
NEWS: NICHOLS will NOT delay Bannon's July 18 trial.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 11, 2022
Bannon has had many losses since refusing to cooperate with the House Select Committee’s investigation into Jan. 6. Being dumped by Trump and by his own crucial attorney and facing criminal charges for his role in an attempted coup, has put the unapologetic Trump loyalist in accountability’s way.
His now-former attorney, Bob Costello, conceded defeat, announcing before he resigned that the client he abandoned would appear before the investigative panel.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Molly Gaston and Amanda Vaughn weren’t letting the grifter off the hook. They criticized Bannon’s decision not to show up to the hearing and argued that Bannon’s attempt to invoke executive privilege had no grounds. They condemned his willful disregard for testifying and his subsequent willingness to appear before the Jan. 6 committee, telling the judge:
“The offense was completed at the time he willfully defaulted, both on documents and testimony, and his decision whether to comply now has no bearing on the criminal case.”
David Schoen and Evan Corcoran, the Bannon attorneys who chose to stick around, tried and failed to argue that they don’t have “adequate time” to mount a defense, with Schoen crying “What’s the point in going to trial here if there are no defenses.”
It was a laughable complaint, given the 10 months that they have already had to mount a defense.
Bannon’s request to subpoena Nancy Pelosi and members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee was also denied. As was his demand to see the reasons surrounding the Justice Department’s decision not to indict former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and his deputy Dan Scavino for their similar defiance of their Congressional subpoenas.
With the Jan. 6 televised hearings starting up again on Tuesday – and Bannon’s trial a week later – the clock is ticking for Trump’s enablers and co-conspirators.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
