This new intervention from the House undermines the justifications the original Select Committee used to issue the subpoenas and provide ammunition for Bannon’s appeal.
The GOP-led House has quietly filed a rare intervention in Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress case, arguing the Democrat-led House January 6 Select Committee failed in its formation to follow chamber rules – invalidating the two subpoenas it served Bannon that he ignore and ultimately put him behind bars.
The House brief argues the select committee was improperly constituted and that neither then-Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi nor the committee leadership followed the directives of House Resolution 503, which established the committee.
The Amicus Curiae brief filed by the House General Counsel nine days ago fulfills a promise from Speaker Mike Johnson in June to intervene in the case.
Bannon, a former Trump White House political adviser, refused to answer two subpoenas from the committee, citing executive privilege.
He was convicted and sentenced under two charges of contempt of Congress.
The intervention of the House under Johnson, a Louisiana Republican comes as Bannon is appeals the case.
This new intervention from the House undermines the justifications of the committee’s subpoenas and potentially provides ammunition for the appeal.
Bannon is serving a four month prison sentence and calls himself a “political prisoner.”
“We’re working on filing an amicus brief with his appellate work there in his case because the January 6 committee was, we think, wrongfully constituted,” Johnson said in June. “We think the work was tainted. We think that they may have very well covered up evidence and maybe even more nefarious activities.”
You can read the amicus curiae brief below:
