“This is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden…”
Judge Nichols rejected many of Bannon’s proposed defenses, Bannon’s attorney is up the creek without a paddle while his client is making more medieval holes in the boat. Also July 17th filings updated
November 15, 2021 Defendant Bannon & his attorney…
After Defendant Bannon’s initial appearance in Federal District Court, Washington DC, he and his attorney held an impromptu press conference literally on the Federal Courthouse steps. Not only was this free flowing of disinformation and complete contempt for your three but co equal branches of Government. The comments made by Bannon might in fact bite him in his tuches… in this follow up article the goal is to explain why and to properly set your expectations of this long awaited criminal trial…
Prerequisite Defendant Bannon case background
In order to ensure you have a complete (albeit spicy) take on the various twist and turns, I’ve embedded various previous published articles below and hyperlinked to specific subsections of said articles:
September 28, 2021: Stephen “strap in” Bannon…
October 8, 2021: President Biden waives Executive Privilege re January 6, 2021…
October 8, 2021 (after fully accepting that countless hours of my twitter research is gone) I did provide you with a crash course in “contempt of Congress” -both in terms of Congress’ inherent power or making a criminal referral to the DOJ: Congress’ Inherent Contempt crash course:
October 14, 2021: Dear Steve Bannon & Guo Wengui -can we talk about the SEC enforcement action?
November 12, 2021: DOJ unseals the Indictment against Steve Bannon
January 6, 2022: the one year anniversary of the day that Donald Trump radicalized his supporters and pointed them to “March to Congress forcing hundreds of law enforcement officers to literally put their body/lives on the line to protect our Democracy” 1
July 11, 2022: Steve Bannon’s request to delay his criminal trial: DENIED —July 18, 2022 jury trial to commence. And Bannon’s sudden reversal
July 14, 2022: Bannon: “the entrapment by estoppel defense” cites CNN’s upcoming doc & July 12th HSCJ6 hearing
Now what happens:
To be clear Bannon’s indictment: two counts of Contempt of Congress, each count carries a maximum term of imprisonment of one year, with a maximum fine of $100,000.00. —but this statute also includes a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days in prison
See Count One: 2 U.S.C. §192 (testimony) and also see Count 2: 2 U.S.C. $ 192 (Contempt of Congress-Papers) —not that this matters but back in November 2021 I actually noted that Bannon’s attorney and the “instructed” would be important because at the time I could accurately see Defendant Bannon thought this would be his escape hatch, but the Judge prohibited Bannon using his attorney’s advise regarding the lawful Congressional Subpoena
The one thing most won’t actually tell you is the aforementioned statues do not “compel testimony” meaning even if Bannon is found guilty, unless the Court orders him to not only provide oral testimony but also documents as elucidated in the Schedule A of the 2021 subpoena. Conversely and hypothetically speaking, assuming arguendo that the Court orders Bannon to comply with both Congressional subpoena and Bannon still refuses, then that would require the Court to order “a show cause” of why the Court should not hold Bannon in criminal contempt of court. Again that might be premature to discuss but when it comes to Steve Bannon nothing is really off the table. For now let’s set aside the (potential) Contempt of Court because that particular issue is no where near ripe.
“What’s the point in going to trial if there are no defenses…”
And as noted during the July 11, 2022 second to last pretrial hearing an exasperated BannonDefense Attorney, David Schoen literally said in open court
"What’s the point of going to trial here if there are no defenses?”
To wit Judge Nichols responded: “Agreed,”
Criminal Trial 101…
As previously articulated pretrial hearings allow the parties to “duke it out” mainly over evidence, defense arguments and testimony (that’s an incident condensed summation. Below is a brief summary of what happens next:
Jury selection (expect serious locking horns over voir dire, specifically “individual sequestered voir dire” and “introduce the existence” of the “special report” -you can read more here
After a jury has been seated, both the Prosecutor and Defense will proffer opening statements (to the jury)
The Defense will then present their case (again I can not emphasize enough just how limited Defendant Bannon’s arguments are, again you can read more here (July 14th) and July 11th) here
Closing arguments (both the Prosecution and Defendant)
At which point then the case is in the Jury’s hands aka Jury Deliberations. If the Jury finds Bannon guilty on both counts, then we move to the sentencing phase of the criminal trial. Conversely if the Jury finds Bannon not guilty -then Bannon will only become more emboldened and will likely go “all in” vis-a-vis his WarRoom and podcast. Meaning “all hell will brake loose” See the HSCJ6 July 11, 2022 presentment of facts surrounding Steve Bannon and Donald Trump regarding several phone calls on Jan 5th & 6th respectively.
And the last portion of Defendant Bannon’s criminal trial will likely be an appeal on the verdict. In short if Bannon is convicted then he’s looking at a mandatory minimum of 30 days in prison (on each count) it’s possible the judge might make the sentencing concurrent versus consecutive (meaning Bannon will serve his imprisonment on both counts at the same time) —but again we might be getting ahead of our proverbial skis here —making the assumption that a Jury will find him guilty. The thing is juries can and often be unpredictable. It’s so not safe to assume anything and it’s best to wait and see.
Hail Mary Filings on the eve of Trial:
To be clear I fell asleep last night whilst reading the late night filings, but if you’re asking me which filing is important to read. My response is, read then all especially the Voir Dire & Jury instructions
July 17, 2022: NOTICE of United States' Objections to Court's Proposed Statement of the Case, Voir Dire, and Jury Instructions by USA as to STEPHEN K. BANNON. See ECF or Scribd
July 17, 2022: STATEMENT OF CASE by STEPHEN K. BANNON. See ECF or Scribd
July 17, 2022: Proposed Jury Instructions by STEPHEN K. BANNON. See ECF or via scribd
July 17, 2022: REPLY TO OPPOSITION to Motion by STEPHEN K. BANNON re 116 MOTION to Dismiss Case MOTION to Exclude Congressional Evidence. See ECF
Again the tranche of July 17, 2022 filings are slowly being uploaded to my Scribd Account, found here and because I haven’t read all the filings (nearly 90 pages) I’m reserving opining on them beyond Bannon’s proposed jury instructions and motion to quash evidence— LOLs okie dokie that’s what you’re going with? Yea good luck with that Stevo…
And lastly your daily saltwater therapy, if I’m going to be honest this particular sound sunset ranks in my top five…
For now I think you have been fully debrief but I need to sprint to my 3PM weekly teams call. It’s not like those damn bonbons are going to eat themselves. Lastly this week will likely be hit or miss. I’m going to be down in Richmond starting tomorrow and will likely be there for the remainder of the week. If anyone tells you appeal cases are “easy peasy —lemon squeeze-y” they are full of bullshit because appeals are monolithic task, especially for support staff. And I hope I do my former boss justice because this particular appeal is the last thing he was working on before his death by suicide.
Again last week the Washington Post reported that Bannon “threatened to go medieval” you can read their July 16, 2022 article: Facing trial, Bannon vows to go ‘medieval,’ but judge says meh ←and yes I literally snort laughed uncontrollably at the headline.
Be Well -Filey
I have to say that I’m entirely disappointed by the Biden White House, on July 1, 2022 the White House announced the names of Americans who would be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Again those Americans listed deserved that medal but the fact that the Biden Administration did not include a single US Capitol Police Officer or any Metropolitan Police Officer. Frankly I think this was an egregious mistake by President Biden and his White House. You can read more of the July 2021 article: The future of self governance is on the line As promised -UPDATED- Officers Hodges & Fanone written testimony NOW INCLUDED. The fact none of these officers were honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — i find it deeply disappointing and offensive
Criteria For Awarding The Medal Of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded for, “especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors”.
Those up for the award may be selected by the President, who may consider nominees based on recommendations. Executive Order 12107 established the Presidential Rank Award Distinguished Review Board for that purpose.
Biden is likely waiting for the 1/6 hearings to be completed or at least lets hope 🙏♥️
On another note, why can’t we get Bannon on something more serious that requires him to serve a lot of time? Like treason??? 🤣
With no defense, I guess we can expect a clown show.