WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) The US House Select Committee investigating the January 6 events sent a private letter to former Breitbart media chief Steve Bannon's lawyer in which it refutes his arguments not to cooperate in the ongoing probe and threatens to hold him accountable for contempt of Congress, the Washington Post reported.
Last week, Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena that required him to testify before the Select Committee and referenced the executive privilege rule in his defense.
"The Select Committee believes that this willful refusal to comply with the Subpoena constitutes a violation of Federal law," Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote in the letter sent to Bannon's lawyer, Robert Costello, the report said on Monday.
Thompson announced last week that the Select Committee will convene on Tuesday evening to vote on the contempt charge against Bannon. If the vote goes through, the next step would be for the US House to take up the vote in full. Following the US House approval, the matter would then go to the Justice Department, the report said.
Contempt of Congress can only be pursued by the Justice Department and can result in a penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
The Select Committee has also requested other Trump advisers' testimonies, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and Kash Patel, a former national security and Defense Department aide who all agreed to cooperate, the report said.
