Bannon Rebuffs Subpoena from Jan. 6 Inquiry

Politics|Bannon Rebuffs Subpoena From Jan. 6 Inquiry, Invoking Executive Privilege

WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Stephen K. Bannon, the erstwhile main strategist to President Donald J. Trump, told the peculiar House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot connected Thursday that helium would not comply with a subpoena, raising the imaginable of a ineligible conflict for important grounds successful the inquiry.

In a missive to the panel, Robert Costello, Mr. Bannon’s lawyer, said a lawyer for Mr. Trump had asked immoderate of the aides and advisers facing subpoenas to invoke immunity and refrain from turning implicit documents that mightiness beryllium protected nether enforcement privilege.

“It is truthful wide to america that since the enforcement privileges beryllium to President Trump, and helium has, done his counsel, announced his volition to asseverate those enforcement privileges enumerated above, we indispensable judge his absorption and grant his invocation of enforcement privilege,” Mr. Costello wrote. “As such, until these issues are resolved, we are incapable to respond to your petition for documents and testimony.”

Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the president of the prime committee, has threatened transgression referrals for witnesses who bash not comply with the subpoenas, and said the sheet expected witnesses “to cooperate afloat with our probe.”

In its first batch of subpoenas, the House committee ordered 4 erstwhile Trump medication officials — Mr. Bannon; Mark Meadows, the White House main of staff; Dan Scavino Jr., a lawman main of unit and Kash Patel, a Pentagon main of unit — to beryllium for depositions and furnish documents and different materials applicable to its investigation.

In a missive reviewed by The New York Times, Mr. Trump’s lawyer asked that witnesses not supply grounds oregon documents related to their “official” duties, and alternatively to invoke immoderate immunities they mightiness person “to the fullest grade permitted by law.”

While Mr. Bannon worked astatine the White House successful 2017, helium departed successful August of that year, and was not an enforcement subdivision worker successful the lead-up to, oregon on, Jan. 6, raising the question of whether executive privilege — which tin shield White House deliberations oregon documents involving the president from disclosure — would use to his interactions with Mr. Trump.

In the letter, Mr. Costello said that his lawsuit would “comply with the directions of the courts,” but that for now, “Mr. Bannon is legally incapable to comply with your subpoena requests for documents and testimony.”