In an episode of Law & Order, when someone gets a subpoena, they show up to court or wherever they’ve been instructed to go, drop some piece of game-changing intel, the dun-dun music plays, and the credits roll. But in Trumpland, as with most things involving Donald Trump, compliance should never be a foregone conclusion. Case in point: the number of Trump allies who are flouting the law—reportedly at the former president’s behest—by ignoring the subpoenas they’re receiving from the House committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection.
On Wednesday, as Raw Story reports, House committee member Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) appeared on Morning Joe, where she made it clear that the committee has “engaged with a wide variety of law enforcement offices, including the U.S. Marshals, in order to issue the subpoenas” and “will use all of the agencies and all of the tools at our disposal to issue the subpoenas and enforce them.”
While the idea of someone who probably (most definitely) does not look like Raylan Givens coming after them with a pair of handcuffs might be enough of a threat to convince some former Trump cohorts to comply, Steve Bannon won’t likely be among them. As Insider reported, Trump’s former chief strategist and senior counselor had his lawyers send a second letter to the committee reaffirming their position that Bannon won’t be complying with his own subpoena because of Trump’s “executive privilege.” Robert J. Costello, Bannon’s attorney, wrote:
“Mr. Bannon’s position is not in defiance of your Committee’s subpoena; rather, Mr. Bannon noted that President Trump’s counsel stated that they were invoking executive and other privileges and therefore directed us not to produce documents or give testimony that might reveal information President Trump’s counsel seeks to legally protect.”
Steve Bannon team has fired off another letter to Jan 6 committee repeating that they will not cooperate citing Trump executive privilege claims. Letter obtained by @ABC below —-> pic.twitter.com/BU0F9MuFv0
— John Santucci (@Santucci) October 13, 2021
While Biden has waived any executive privilege related to documents and information surrounding the January 6th riots, Bannon’s team is playing a game of he said, he said—stating that they have been directed by Trump’s lawyer “not to produce documents or testify until the issue of executive privilege has been resolved.”
Dun-dun.
(Via Raw Story)