US Capitol riot: Steve Bannon goes on trial for contempt of Congress

Steve Bannon, the former top adviser and campaign chief for Donald Trump, has gone on trial for refusing to co-operate with the congressional committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol.

On Monday, jury selection began in the 68-year-old’s trial at a court in Washington DC.

The man once billed as the brains behind Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential victory was charged in November with two counts of contempt of Congress.

He had rebuffed subpoenas requesting his testimony as well as relevant documents about his involvement in efforts to challenge Mr Trump’s 2020 presidential defeat and organise the protests that culminated in the violent attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The committee has been particularly interested in Mr Bannon’s communications with Mr Trump in the days before the attack, and the “war room” meetings he held at a hotel near the White House with other key figures as part of the last-ditch attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

Mr Bannon, in his popular podcast, warned on 5 January that “all hell” was going to break loose the following day.

The committee first subpoenaed Mr Bannon in September 2021. The following month, it voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for his refusal to co-operate, charges the full House of Representatives quickly affirmed in a vote.

At the time, Mr Bannon was defiant, saying: “We’re taking down the Biden regime.” As the trial date approached, he said on his podcast that his legal strategy would involve “going medieval” on his enemies.

But inside the courtroom, Mr Bannon’s bombast has been shelved. The options for his defence have been limited by presiding Judge Carl Nichols, a Donald Trump appointee.

Mr Bannon had sought to claim his contacts with Mr Trump were covered by executive privilege, a legal principle that holds communications between presidents and their advisers are protected from disclosure in order to allow for candid advice.

He also claimed that the congressional committee’s subpoenas were invalid because the only Republicans involved were appointed by Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Judge Nichols, however, ruled that because Mr Bannon was a private citizen and not a government employee, he could not make executive privilege claims. He ruled that the committee’s subpoenas were valid and also rejected Mr Bannon’s attempts to call Democratic members of Congress to testify.

Mr Bannon’s only remaining defence during the trial may be that the final deadline the committee had set for complying with the subpoenas was not clear.

“What’s the point of going to trial if there are no defences?” one of Mr Bannon’s lawyers asked Mr Nichols after his ruling. “Agreed,” the judge responded.