Steve Bannon, the former adviser to former President Donald Trump, wants to appear before the congressional committee investigating the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. International news agencies write this on the basis of a letter from Bannon’s lawyer, which they got their hands on last weekend. His decision comes a week before the former adviser has to appear in a lawsuit brought by the same committee, because he refused to testify and release documents even after a subpoena.
Bannon has consistently invoked his immunity, based on so-called “executive privilege” – the right of a president or former president and other members of the executive branch to withhold information from Congress if it is confidential. In November, the committee brought a case against Bannon, finding that immunity as an adviser did not apply to him. Bannon was Trump’s chief adviser from January to August 2017.
Former President Trump has informed his former adviser that he is willing to waive his “executive privilege,” Bannon’s lawyer wrote, allowing him to testify. Trump’s main reason is that he has “seen how unfairly you and the others have been treated” during the interrogations so far. Bannon can now “testify truthfully and honestly at the request of the Unselected Commission of Political Criminals and Scammers,” Trump said.
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