In the post conviction press conference, Bannon said the only thing that bothered him is that the 1/6 Commission members didn’t show up to testify at his trial. The irony.
Meg: Um, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to, I don't know... go out sometime? Craig: Huh, that's about as likely as me playing by someone else's rules besides my own... which I would never do. I play by my own rules. Nobody else's. Not even my own. Meg: How about a movie? Craig: I don't go out with dudes.
The court would not allow Steve Bannon’s team to confront his accusers or put up a defense. This will go to the Supreme Court.
If you had any familiarity with the judicial system, you wouldn’t say such a thing. The judicial system would grind to a halt if people got to decide they’re not going to obey a subpoena, which is exactly what Bannon did. If he thought date of compliance was still being negotiated, and that he was legitimately confused, he could have got on the stand and told the jury that. The judge didn’t prevent him. His lawyer did. He did so because he knew Bannon would have made a terrible witness, and that the documents and prosecution witness testimony showed Bannon’s “defense” was hogwash. At some point, you need to take off your partisan blinders … I mean glasses …. and show some objectivity.
Oh maga world would love it if it went to the scotus and the homies had Bannon's back. That is the system they want.
The Judge allowed Bannon to confront the witnesses against him. He as allowed to question the two witnesses who testified. And, the Judge allowed Bannon to raise the defense that was legally available to him— that the subpoena was not a valid subpoena because the signature was not the Chairman’s. What is the defense recognized in law that Brannon was not allowed to raise? And keep in mind that Bannon did not show up and raise privileges or other justifications for not testifying. Did Bannon file a court proceeding to challenge the subpoena? Is it a defense to ignoring a subpoena that the witness offers to show up on the eve of trial and proposed his own terms for his testimony?
I was thinking he was going to appeal and claim executive privilege and keep pressing on appeals until he gets to the SCOTUS. Maybe Trump or Trump ally is president by then and he gets a pardon. I hope he spends a long time in jail.
I listen to folks that do have familiarity of the judicial system not rub the nub Toobin. I don't have blinders on and think this committee is a joke. The government is using evidence from members of the committee, but members of the committee have invoked the speech and debate clause to quash the defendants ability to call them as witnesses. The judge granted that motion to quash. So, basically the members of the committee will be testifying against Bannon, without Bannon having the ability to cross examine them. They made themselves a party to the case when they filed an amicus brief in support of the charges. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.237438/gov.uscourts.dcd.237438.116.0_3.pdf
The max sentence is 2 years and sentencing is in October so he will likely have served his full sentence by the time the next POTUS is inaugurated.
Executive privilege is not a defense. He can’t just not show up. He has to assert executive privilege to questions where the question might lead to a privileged answer. Not a defense.
