Steve Bannon: 'There's Nothing That Can Shut Me Up'

Source:CSPAN showing showing Steve Bannon’s little press statement outside of the U.S. Circuit Court in Washington.

 

Source:The New Democrat

"Steve Bannon speaks to reporters in Washington, after being ordered by a federal judge to reporter to prison by July 1. Bannon was convicted for defying a January 6 Committee subpoena and sentenced to four months in prison. "There's nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up. There's not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up...we're going to win on November 5th in an amazing landslide."

From C-SPAN

"At the time, Bannon contended he did not comply because of executive privilege concerns raised by Trump and said that his former attorney had advised him not to respond to the subpoena because of the potential privilege. 

Before the trial, Nichols — a Trump appointee — ordered Bannon not to tell the jury about the advice of his counsel because of binding precedent that set a legal definition of willful default on a subpoena. After his conviction, the judge sentenced Bannon to four months in prison but held off on actually imposing the ruling, concluding it was "likely" the conviction would be overturned. 

Bannon's defense subsequently appealed the conviction.

Last month, an appeals court disagreed with his arguments and ruled Bannon's "'advice of counsel' defense is no defense at all." The three-judge panel in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the jury's conviction and wrote the defense he sought was "unavailable under this statute."

From CBS News

So Steve Bannon's defense here is basically: "President Donald Trump claimed executive privilege on the conversations that I had with him about Jan. 6. That's why I din't comply with the House subpoena to speak in front of their Jan. 6 committee." 

The big problem that he has here (and I'm not a lawyer) and you can see why he keeps losing his appeals, is that Steve Bannon in January, 2021, didn't work for The White House or any part of the Trump Administration. Donald Trump fired him in the summer of 2017. 

Mr. Bannon was just a private citizen during the entire presidential election season of 2020 and the transition period from November, 2020 when Joe Biden was elected President of the United States, defeating President Trump, till the day that President Trump's term expired and Joe Biden becomes President Joe Biden. And the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt happened 2 weeks before Mr. Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, succeeding President Trump. 

Any rookie, criminal defense lawyer in Washington, who represents people who've worked in and outside of the U.S. Government, will tell you that executive privilege doesn't apply to private citizens. Whatever you think of Steve Bannon (and I see him as far-right militant trying to overthrow the U.S. Government) he's obviously a very intelligent man, with both a U.S. Naval and business background, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He has to know that he didn't have executive privilege here. 

Besides, even if Steve Bannon is a total idiot, (and the sun never comes out in Arizona) ignorance of the law is never excuse for breaking the law. And even if he got bad legal advise and that's the reason why he didn't comply with his House subpoena, that gives him justification to sue his lawyer. Not ignore a Congressional subpoena.