WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon’s defense team made another attempt to end his criminal case for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena, urging a federal judge to acquit him because the evidence presented by prosecutors was too thin.
“The government has rested its case and they have not presented evidence upon which a reasonable person could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Bannon is guilty of the charges of contempt of Congress,” defense attorney Evan Corcoran said in a Washington courtroom Thursday.
Corcoran slammed the prosecution against the longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump as “really a one-witness case.” He said the defense won’t be calling witnesses or submitting evidence.
The jury that has been hearing evidence since Tuesday was not present at the time. Judge Carl Nichols said he would rule on the motion later and called a lunch recess.
Justice Department prosecutor Amanda Vaughn argued that the motion should be denied because the government presented sufficient evidence to show that Bannon had no intention of complying with the subpoena regardless of what the compliance deadline was or why it was chosen.
“The evidence is clear” that Bannon didn’t submit documents and he publicly said he wouldn’t, she said. Bannon posted on social media, “I will not comply,” she added.
On Wednesday, Kristin Amerling, chief counsel to the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee, told jurors that Bannon ignored multiple requests and warnings to comply with a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. She said the committee had directed Bannon to send over documents by Oct. 7 and to appear for testimony on Oct. 14 but he never complied. She also said he didn’t follow the procedures attached to the subpoena if he wanted to request more time to comply.
Corcoran blasted Amerling’s testimony, saying that “she was unable to identify why those dates were in the subpoena at all,” or identify “who put those dates in the subpoena.”
The prosecution called a second witness, Stephen Hart, an agent for the FBI who investigated Bannon’s failure to comply with the subpoena. Hart testified that Bannon’s former attorney, Robert Costello, offered no other reason aside from Bannon’s claim of executive privilege from Trump for his refusal to cooperate.
