Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Steve Bannon, former President Donald
Trump‘s one-time campaign head and White House strategist. He has been charged
with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a
subpoena issued by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the
Capitol.
A group of 22 tentative jurors was selected from an initial pool of 60. Judge Carl
Nichols said the group must come back Wednesday morning, when they will be
narrowed down to 12 with 2 alternates. Most of the potential jurors were dismissed
due to their views on Bannon or the Jan. 6 investigation.
One excused man called it a “cut and dry” case. Others expressed “negative opinions”
of Bannon, with one saying flatly, “I am not a fan of Steve Bannon, personally.” That
man assured the judge he could perform the duty of a juror impartially, but he was
excused.
Another D.C. resident who was excused said, “I do believe [Bannon]’s guilty.”
A former law enforcement officer said that because of her employment background,
she could not impartially decide a case dealing with the events of Jan. 6 that so
negatively impacted the law enforcement officers who responded that day.
Bannon wore mostly black in court and was attentive to the potential jurors as they
were questioned. Outside of court, Bannon called the Jan. 6 hearings “a show trial”
and said he’d rather be speaking on Capitol Hill, alluding to his recent reversal over
his willingness to testify before the committee.
Bannon, who was a private citizen at the time of the Jan. 6 committee’s creation last
year, was charged after the panel demanded that he sit for a deposition with
investigators and hand over documents relevant to the congressional probe.
In October 2021, Bannon rebuffed the committee’s subpoenas, prompting the House
of Representatives to refer his noncompliance to the Justice Department, which later
brought an indictment against him.
At the time of his refusal, Bannon’s attorney said his client was following the
direction of the former president’s legal team to not provide documents or testify due
to executive privilege, although several courts have said the former president cannot
claim executive privilege once waived by President Biden. Bannon has pleaded not
guilty to both counts.
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What followed Bannon’s indictment has been a tumultuous legal battle between the
defense and prosecutors over which evidence is admissible at trial, unsuccessful
attempts by Bannon to postpone the proceedings entirely, and the ongoing televised
hearings showcasing the Jan.6 Committee’s evidence during which Bannon himself
has been referenced many times.
And just last week, Bannon told the Jan. 6 committee in an about-face that he is
willing to testify — but publicly. “While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his
convictions, circumstances have now changed,” his lawyer wrote in the letter
obtained by CBS News. Bannon’s lawyer also said that while former Trump invoked
executive privilege over his testimony and documents, the former president “has
decided that it would be in the best interests of the American people to waive
executive privilege for” Bannon, allowing him to comply with the subpoena.
Nichols, appointed by Trump to the federal bench, will oversee the trial. Nichols said
Thursday he would wait to decide whether Bannon can tell the jury he has now
apparently changed his mind about testifying before the committee. Bannon’s legal
team has argued such testimony is relevant to his explanation that he was acting
under the direction of the former president and did not criminally ignore the
subpoena, but prosecutors say the recent change of heart is “irrelevant” to whether
Bannon broke the law last year.
In a series of pretrial hearings, Nichols culled through the myriad requests from
Bannon’s team and prosecutors alike, ruling on the evidence that will be presented to
the jury and the arguments that are banned from his courtroom.
The judge ordered that Bannon cannot make a series of defenses at trial, including a
“public authority” argument that Trump’s demand that he ignore the committee’s
request neutralizes any illegality.
Bannon’s argument that the House violated its own rules in its operation of Jan. 6
select committee was also dismissed by the judge. Bannon and numerous defendants
fighting subpoenas at the civil level have tried to argue in court the committee is
invalid. All have so far failed.
His lawyers will be able to argue, however, that Bannon was unaware of the
subpoena’s deadline when he did not testify or hand over the requested documents.
The process of finding a group of 12 jurors plus two alternates who could be
acceptable to both sides may be the biggest hurdle. Bannon’s defense attorney David
Schoen argued that the recent release of audio by Mother Jones could bias
prospective jurors. In the recording, Bannon predicted days before the 2020 election
that Trump would declare victory on election night, while it would look like he had a
lead, since mail-in votes, which were expected to favor Joe Biden, would be counted
more slowly in several battleground states.
“What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But
that doesn’t mean he’s a winner,” Bannon told a group of people in the audio
published by Mother Jones. “He’s just gonna say he’s a winner.”
Schoen also argued that the Jan. 6 committee hearing last Tuesday — in which
Bannon’s infamous “all hell is gonna break loose” statement predicting the events of
Jan. 6 was broadcast — would bias jurors unfairly against the defendant.
“Potential jurors in the District of Columbia have been bombarded with coverage of
the Select Committee hearing,” Bannon’s team argued in pretrial memos, “It would be
impossible to guarantee Mr. Bannon a fair trial in the middle of much-publicized
Select Committee hearings which purport to broadcast investigative ‘findings’ on
topics that are referenced in the Indictment.”
Because of this so-called potential for bias, Bannon asked the court to delay his trial.
Nevertheless, Nichols sided with prosecutors, ruling that the jury selection process in
which Washington, D.C. citizens will field questions on their views of the defendant
and his alleged actions would likely ensure a fair process.
Bannon isn’t the only defendant with ties to the Jan. 6 probe to ask for a delay in
proceedings due to the ongoing committee hearings. A group of Proud Boys accused
of seditious conspiracy successfully petitioned the judge in their case to delay their
trial by at least a few months after their alleged leadership role in the Jan. 6 attack on
the Capitol took center stage in the first House Select Committee public hearing.
NSL has learned members of the far-right Oath Keepers group accused of seditious
conspiracy also want their trial delayed because of the committee’s media attention.
For his part, Bannon will be the first of two former Trump White House officials to go
to trial. Peter Navarro, Trump’s economic adviser, faces similar charges and is set to
go to trial in November after rejecting a plea offer from prosecutors.
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