[Daily Beast] Steve Bannon| ...former investment banker, Breitbart co-founder, former Hollywood film producer, US Navy lieutenant, chief executive of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, etc... |
Bannon is attempting to force investigators to potentially expose who they’ve talked to and what they’ve said, peek into secret communications on the committee, and create a playbook for other resistant witnesses, according to several legal experts.
"There's no cost to opposing Congress if you can give Congress a black eye for even daring to ask you questions," said Kel McClanahan, an attorney who specializes in national security matters.
As Bannon faces criminal charges, he’s entitled to the evidence against him. And in a typical galaxy-brain, Bannon countergambit, Trump’s former senior adviser is trying to make some of that evidence public.
According to a Sunday night court filing by federal prosecutors, that includes secret witness interviews by law enforcement and internal communications between House committee staff members. The Justice Department claims this material that, were it exposed to the public, would cause "specific harms" like "witness tampering" or making it impossible to find impartial jurors at a future trial.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Bannon’s lawyers said the government’s argument was "festooned with hyperbole... perhaps designed to score points with the media." That same day, a "press coalition" of 15 news organizations—including Buzzfeed, CNN, and The Washington Post—sided with Bannon and asked the judge overseeing the case to make documents available and reject what it called "this broad gag order."
But while most press coverage of this fight has hinged on the accusation that Bannon is trying to turn this into a media circus or spectacle, some legal scholars say the real intention is to harm the investigation itself. One called it "graymail," a legal defense tactic that’s tantamount to blackmail and has since been outlawed.
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Steve Bannon: 2021-11-21 FBI conducted violent home raid on America's Mom Founder
Steve Bannon: 2021-11-16 Good Morning
Steve Bannon: 2021-11-29 DoJ accuses Steve Bannon of 'misleading and frivolous' attempts to turn his prosecution for refusing to testify before January 6 committee into a 'public spectacle'
Steve Bannon: 2021-11-21 FBI conducted violent home raid on America's Mom Founder
Steve Bannon: 2021-11-16 Good Morning