Well, it looks as if one of Donald Trump’s inner circle has decided to follow in his former boss’ clunky footsteps. The January 6 House Select Committee is investigating the attempted overthrow of our government and has sent out two rounds of subpoenas. Former advisor to the president Steve Bannon just stuck his nose up in the air and said “nuh unh” or something to that effect. Bannon is such an unusual guy. He is very smart, but he wears three shirts and bucks subpoenas. Who does that? Here is how it played out.
Member of the Select Committee Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) appeared on MSNBC’s morning Stephanie Ruhle Reports show Tuesday. And he told the audience that Bannon had been refusing to honor his subpoena, but there would be consequences with real muscle behind them. No more nice-guy Democrats.
Bannon was basing his refusal upon executive privilege which lets members of a president’s staff maintain secrecy. The thing is Bannon has not worked in the White House since August 2017 — over three years ago. Raskin said Bannon was “completely exposed:”
‘He wasn’t working for the executive branch. o even if you assume hypothetically that Donald Trump has some kind of executive privilege, which is extremely dubious in itself, how could that extend to Steve Bannon? So he’s completely exposed.’
The Maryland representative pointed to the case of Susan McDougal. She was involved in the Clinton’s Whitewater scandal and refused to comply with a grand jury subpoena to protect her friends. As a result, she spent 18 months in jail before President Clinton pardoned her. Raskin said:
‘Remember, Susan McDougal spent 18 months in jail because she refused to participate in the Whitewater investigation when she was under subpoena. Does the law only apply against Democrats? I don’t think so.’
Bannon was one of four who was ordered by subpoena to supply documents by the Select Committee. That deadline was October 7 and also included Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and former Pentagon Chief of Staff Kashyap Patel made up the rest of the four men, now with an October 15 deadline to comply with their subpoenas.
Donald Trump sent a letter to the anointed four via his attorney reading, according to The Vanity Fair’s The Hive:
‘President Trump is prepared to defend these fundamental privileges in court.’
The letter also told the holder to refuse to send any White House-related documents. The Hive continued:
‘It’s unclear how the committee will try to enforce the subpoenas of the Trump-allied foursome, but members of the panel—which includes seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans—have said they may ask the Justice Department to prosecute witnesses who refuse to comply.’
It continued with the prison and fine:
‘It also remains to be seen if the former Trump officials will follow Trump’s directions. If they are convicted of criminal contempt of Congress, they could face a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.’
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
