Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon exits the Manhattan Federal Court, following his arraignment hearing for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S (Photo : REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
A U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected an attempt by former Trump aide Steve Bannon to refrain from testifying.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives Select Committee is expected to approve a report backing contempt charges against Bannon at a meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (2330 GMT).
That will pave the way for the entire House to vote on whether to recommend contempt charges. A source familiar with the schedule said that vote was planned for Thursday.
If the House approves the referral, the Justice Department will decide whether to pursue a criminal case.
Before leaving office in January, Trump pardoned Bannon of charges he had swindled the Republican president's supporters. Trump has urged former aides subpoenaed by the panel to reject its requests, claiming the right to withhold information because of executive privilege, a legal principle that protects many White House communications.
President Joe Biden's White House argues Trump has no legitimate privilege claim.
"The former president's actions represented a unique - and existential - threat to our democracy that can't be swept under the rug," White House spokesman Michael Gwin said. "The constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself."
More than 670 people have been charged with taking part in the riot, the worst attack on the U.S. government since the War of 1812. The select committee has issued 19 subpoenas.
'ALL HELL IS GOING TO BREAK LOOSE'
In a report on Monday, the committee argued that Bannon made statements suggesting he knew ahead of time about "extreme events" on Jan. 6, when Congress was scheduled to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election.
Bannon said on a Jan. 5 podcast that "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow." The next day, thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol, in an attempt to overturn Trump's election defeat, which Trump falsely claimed was the result of widespread fraud.
Trump filed suit on Monday, alleging the committee made an illegal, unfounded and overly broad request for his White House records, which committee leaders rejected.
Many legal experts have said Trump's executive privilege claim is weak because the committee has a compelling need to see the requested materials.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1821 that Congress has "inherent authority" to arrest and detain recalcitrant witnesses on its own, without the Justice Department's help. But it has not used that authority in nearly a century.
In 1927, the high court said the Senate acted lawfully in sending its deputy sergeant at arms to Ohio to arrest and detain the brother of the then-attorney general, who had refused to testify about a bribery scheme known as the Teapot Dome scandal.
The select committee was created by House Democrats against the wishes of most Republicans. Two of the committee's nine members - Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger - are Republicans who joined House Democrats in voting to impeach Trump in January on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 attack in a fiery speech to supporters earlier that day.
Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump's own administration have rejected Trump's claims that Biden won because of election fraud.
