When an American citizen is served a legal subpoena and they choose to ignore that subpoena, they face arrest. On Friday, former chief of staff Mark Meadows chose to ignore a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee to testify about the events of that day and Donald Trump’s involvement in it. By the day’s end, Meadows found out why that’s not a good idea.
Steve Bannon, the first of the Trump loyalists to refuse to answer a subpoena from the congressional committee, went from being subpoena’d to being indicted on Friday afternoon. He now faces two federal charges, one for refusing to testify in person and one for refusing to turn over subpoena’d documents. Other witnesses called to testify should be very afraid that this will also be their fate.
Likely, it will take some time to carry out the threat. Bannon has 48 hours to turn over the documents and present himself for arrest. Although he’ll have time to contact his lawyer, he’ll likely post bail right away, and the case will drag on in court for as long as possible, these are still charges that will stick, just as they will for all of the other Trump flunkees who thought ignoring a subpoena would be acceptable.
Twitter is not hopeful that any serious punishment will be carried out, while others were thrilled that something is finally being done. Read some of their comments below:
