Trump strategist Steven Bannon faces trial for defying subpoena from Jan. 6 committee

Right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon is scheduled to start his trial on Monday for defying a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

Jury selection was expected to start in the trial of former President Donald Trump’s onetime White House political strategist who, until recently, refused to testify or hand over documents demanded by the panel.

[ ‘The words of a president matter’: One killed, 13 arrests as Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building in MAGA riot ]

Over a week ago, Bannon notified the committee that he is now willing to testify. His former lawyer, Robert Costello, said the change was because Trump waived his executive privilege claim.

The committee noted that Trump fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the riot.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols believes an impartial jury can be seated in the case, rejecting Bannon’s demands for a delay.

“I am cognizant of current concerns about publicity and bias and whether we can seat a jury that is going to be appropriate and fair, but as I said before, I believe the appropriate course is to go through the voir dire process,” Nichols said Thursday, referring to the questioning of individual jurors before they are selected. The judge said he intended to get a jury that “is going to be appropriate, fair and unbiased.”

[ Trump didn’t invoke executive privilege for Steve Bannon, filing indicates: ‘Looks like the president hung him out to dry’ ]

Bannon, 68, had been one of the most prominent of the Trump-allied holdouts in refusing to testify before the committee. He has argued that his testimony is protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege, which allows presidents to withhold confidential information from the courts and the executive branch.

If convicted, Bannon, 68, faces a minimum of 30 days of jail and as long as a year behind bars on each of two contempt counts.

With News Wire Services