(Elias Irizarry, Headline USA) House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced that he would be filing an amicus brief in support of former Trump administration official Steve Bannon, who will be appealing his conviction on two charges of contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Select Committee.
Bannon was first convicted and sentenced to four months in prison in 2022 for refusing to follow the subpoena of the Democrat-controlled Jan. 6 Committee, making him the first individual to be convicted of the offense in four decades.
He has since delayed his sentence through appeals until early June, when U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered Bannon to report for his prison sentence at FCI Danbury in Connecticut by July 1. Bannon has also appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.
Former Trump official Peter Navarro, who was similarly convicted of contempt of Congress, is currently imprisoned at FCI Miami and will be released on July 17.
Many Republican officials have responded in outrage over the case regarding Bannon and Navarro and pushed to find ways to intervene in the convictions.
“I believe the only way Steve Bannon does not go to jail is if there is a vote taken by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) — to tell the court that it is the official view of the House of Representatives that the J6 committee was illegitimate,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fl., in an interview with podcaster Tim Pool.
Matt Gaetz- “I believe the only way Steve Bannon does not go to jail is if there is a vote taken by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) — to tell the court that it is the official view of the House of Representatives that the J6 committee was illegitimate!”… pic.twitter.com/NtsiuHSk55
— TRUTH NOW ⭐️⭐️⭐️🗽 (@sxdoc) June 13, 2024
That outrage is being translated to action.
On June 18, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., sponsored a resolution to declare the Jan. 6 Select Committee as “illegitimate,” and rescind the subpoenas for Bannon, Navarro, and others facing similar charges. The resolution gained a large crowd of support amongst heavy-hitting Republican lawmakers. However, Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of the Judiciary Committee, expressed skepticism about whether it would make any difference.
On the morning of June 26, however, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group heeded Gaetz’s calls and officially voted to proceed with filing a legal brief in support of Bannon’s appeal.
“We’re working on filing an amicus brief in his appellate work there in his case because the Jan. 6 committee was, we think, wrongfully constituted. We think the work was tainted.” We think that they may have very well covered up evidence and maybe even more nefarious activities.” stated Johnson to Fox News’s Sean Hannity after the decision by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group.
Mike Johnson authorizes congressional amicus brief to written on behalf of Steve Bannon pic.twitter.com/naGmCKl0Cy
— Ugandans for Trump (@UgandaforTrump) June 26, 2024
Notably, the House of Representatives recently voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after he refused to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case.
However, under his supervision, the Department of Justice opted not to prosecute Garland for the same offense as Bannon and Navarro—showing a clear double standard in the enforcement of the rarely used law.
