Two days before reporting to prison, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon stood firm in his assertions that he did not have to comply with subpoenas from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in 2022, and after numerous appeals, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that his four-month sentence should stand.
In an interview with NBC News, Bannon was asked why he defied the subpoenas the House select committee, which sought testimony and documents, issued to him.
“Because, first off, my lawyer told me when I got the letter of exerting the executive privilege from the president, the J6 committee was not legitimately structured, so therefore, the subpoenas don’t mean anything,” Bannon said.
Bannon spoke twice to then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 — conversations that the committee wanted information about. The War Room podcast host called them “personal and private” and said Trump had “exerted executive privilege” on them.
The ex-Trump White House chief strategist told the outlet that his endgame was “victory or death of this republic,” a battle cry he gave at this month’s Turning Point USA conference in Detroit.
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“We only get stronger with this, we’re not going to get weaker,” Bannon said. “We’re a populist movement.”
Bannon is to report to a prison in Danbury, Connecticut, on Monday.
