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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon, Would-Be Rasputin, Goes On Trial

Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon, Would-Be Rasputin, Goes On Trial

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Yes, I had intended to post this yesterday, but {waves hand} so much news. Useful background reading:

Took some looking, though…

After a long day of hearing exactly what fellow D.C. residents thought of him, Steve Bannon thanked potential jurors in his contempt of Congress trial for being “truthful and blunt.”

Many did not hold back on speaking their mind about the Trump ally who once served as a White House strategist.

One person said he wouldn’t be inclined to believe anything Bannon said because of who he’s associated with. Another who wasn’t selected for the jury recalled comments he had read in coverage of pretrial hearings, saying he didn’t know “what the defense would be.”…

Another individual, a retiree, said it would be a “challenge” to give a fair shake to a man who promoted the “lie that the election was stolen.”

“I do believe he’s guilty,” said the man, who said he’d been following news of the Jan. 6 committee closely, and that it was “preposterous” for Bannon to say he was going to turn this case into the “misdemeanor from hell.”

Eventually, the field was narrowed to 22 potential jurors following a grueling day of questioning and objections from the defense and prosecution. Each side will get to strike several of the qualified jurors on Tuesday, and 14 jurors will hear the case — 12 jurors and two alternates.

The nearly two-dozen qualified jurors mostly work outside of politics, and lead lives that aren’t consumed by political news. Among those in the final 22: a man who worked for an appliance company; a contractor for the city’s Covid testing program; a retired research director who listens to NPR and watches both PBS and Fox News; a technician at Georgetown University Hospital; an employee for a non-profit legal aid group; a D.C. Parks & Recreation worker; a driver who transports special needs students; a NASA photographer; an arts dealer; and a film festival juror…

Bannon was indicted last year after he refused to answer questions from the Jan. 6 committee. He unsuccessfully sought to delay the trial twice, arguing, in part, that there was too much pretrial publicity around the case, including the committee’s televised hearings. Last week, the committee presented evidence that Trump talked to Bannon on the phone twice on Jan. 5, the same day Bannon told his podcast audience “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”…

Bannon, who had stonewalled the committee since October, had a last-minute change of heart this month as he sought to delay the trial, a decision his lawyer attributed to a letter from Trump that waived a purported claim of executive privilege. The Justice Department maintains that Bannon’s offer to testify was nothing more than a “last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability.”

Pretrial hearings largely did not go Bannon’s way, and Nichols knocked out several potential defenses Bannon’s team had raised, leading his lawyer to ask the judge, “What is the point of going to trial here if there are no defenses?”

After the jury is seated on Tuesday, Bannon’s attorneys will likely lay out which of the limited defenses they intend to pursue.

Bonus reading: “Facing trial, Bannon vows to go ‘medieval,’ but judge says meh”

Politico:

… Bannon has repeatedly inveighed against the criminal case, vowing to make it “the misdemeanor from hell” for the White House and Justice Department, and he has vowed to punish Democrats for their roles leading to his prosecution for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. Bannon has contended that his contacts with former President Donald Trump rendered him entirely immune from subpoena, a position the Jan. 6 committee and the Justice Department have argued is baseless…

The impending seating of a jury guarantees a high-profile trial for one of the Jan. 6 committee’s most significant holdouts. Bannon, who received a presidential pardon from Trump for unrelated conduct, was repeatedly in contact with Trump in the days and weeks preceding Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol and disrupted the transition of power, battering through police lines and sending lawmakers fleeing. Bannon was involved in a so-called war room at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Trump allies oversaw a strategy to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election during a joint session of Congress that day.

The select committee subpoenaed Bannon last September, and the House held him in contempt of Congress a month later. The Justice Department charged him with two counts of contempt of Congress in early November: one for defying demands for documents, the other for refusing to testify. Each count carries a maximum of a year in prison…

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse following Monday’s proceedings, Bannon lashed out at the Jan. 6 committee, calling its public hearings a “show trial” and saying he looked forward to his criminal trial beginning Tuesday. Asked whether he believed his jury could be fair, Bannon replied, “Yes, I do.”

Bannon, in recent days, indicated he would relent and cooperate with the select committee, but so far he has yet to provide documents or testimony to the panel…

Like calls to like:

Chekov’s Gun?

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The only person who needs to be “gone medieval” on in this situation is Steve Bannon.  No comfy chairs, either.

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Bannon lashed out at the Jan. 6 committee, calling its public hearings a “show trial”

    This is from the guy who calls himself a Leninist, too.

  4. 4.

    The Truffle

    The Rasputin comparison is apt. Bannon and Rasputin both look like they are terrified of soap and water.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    PROSECUTOR (beginning opening statement): “The defendant received an order to take part in a legal procedure, but refused to appear, claiming–”

    TWELVE JURORS WHO REALLY DON’T WANT TO BE HERE BUT READ THE PART OF THE JURY SUMMONS ABOUT PENALTIES: “Guilty. Execute him.”

  7. 7.

    Barbara

    @Ken: Seriously.  “If we couldn’t ignore the jury summons why does he get to ignore a congressional summons?”

  10. 10.

    nevsky42

    To paraphrase Bloom County:

    We, the jury, find him guilty.  He looks guilty.  He smells guilty.  He is guilty!  AND WE RECOMMEND HE BE FED TO GIANT MAN-EATING COCKROACHES!!!

    Judge: “Thank you, Mr. 42.”

    No sweat.

    Judge: “Would you mind if we started the trial?”

    No sweat.

  14. 14.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Count me skeptical that Bannon will spend even one hour in jail when all is said and done.

  16. 16.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    @The Truffle: My brother and I resent comparison to the man who invented the “Homeless Preppy” look.  We believe in washing on a regular basis; he look like he could ruin the water quality of one of the Great Lakes if he fell in.

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    Filthy rat deserves two years at a minimum, and should be required to take a shower once a month.

  18. 18.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    @The Truffle: My brother and I find your remark distasteful. We believe in sanitation, whereas Bannon “the Homeless Preppy” looks like he could ruin the water quality of a Great Lake if he fell in.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    Bannon was indicted in November on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, with each carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of as much as $100,000.

    Not sure he’d get the maximum given that the judge is a Trump appointee.

  24. 24.

    ian

    Rasputin served a valuable purpose in the Czar’s court.  Much of the royalty of Europe carried a genetic marker for hemophilia, and one of the Czar’s sons, Alexei Romanov, had it pretty bad.  Rasputin had the ability to calm the child down enough to make the bleeding slow enough it could be staunched.  Bannon has evidenced no such useful purpose.

  25. 25.

    the pollyanna from hell

    The Heatflation Manchinflation Price Flattening Act

    I propose a bill in congress to combat inflation by supplying emergency support to replace farm production stricken by catastrophic climate change.

    And to combat the other two parts of Manchinflation, which are greedflation and pot-holeflation:
    opportunistic profiteering and crumbling infra-structure friction losses.

    Also to combat Putinflation, from destruction, atrocity, and transport stoppage.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Maybe they heard about Rick Scott’s plan?

    PS: I didn’t know the judge in the Bannon case is a Trump appointee. That sucks. I was hoping the sumbitch would get at least a few months in the hoosegow.

  28. 28.

    Leto

    @HumboldtBlue: not enough shirts.

    a retired research director who listens to NPR and watches both PBS and Fox News

    That sweet, sweet bothsider NPR demographic. How good was that research really?

  32. 32.

    Layer8Problem

    @ian:  I like where you’re going with this.  Bannon certainly presents an immense danger to the Trumps; ergo, the multi-talented Jared Kushner will take upon himself the Prince Felix Yusupov disposal job of Bannon in the role of Rasputin.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    PSA:

    John and I got email a little while ago from the site hosts saying they are doing some maintenance and would be moving some sites today at noon.  So the site will be unavailable for some period of time.  They talked about “noon” so I imagine that is noon Eastern time.

    They said they will put up a site maintenance notice during that time.

    I wrote back for more information but have not heard back yet.

    Just wanted to let you know so no one panics if/when you see a message about site maintenance on Balloon Juice.

    *This has nothing to do with the merging of any of the sites.

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    @Baud: all of us in that age bracket lived through all abortions being illegal so . . .  maybe not too good to be true.

  39. 39.

    the pollyanna from hell

    @the pollyanna from hell: ​
      Dave refuses to be rushed; he wants to go deeper and broader than possible in a few minutes writing time. I will pass it on when he gets it done.
    My answer to Goku the other day was not complete. When I said “stupid and gimmicky” I referred not only to the flaws in stagflation theory, but also to my own feeling awkward and reluctant to use cutesy neologisms. But my complex analysis text used “amplitwist” and after twenty years I might be almost ready to get used to it.
    You guys could help me a lot by typing all these terms into a web search in the next few days. You won’t find anything, but it will move the rankings. Heatflation, Manchinflation, greedflation, pot-holeflation, Putinflation, Grist (from whence the idea first came.)

  40. 40.

    Joe Falco

    We’re going to find out when Bannon goes to jail and has to wear a jumpsuit if, underneath all those shirts, he was three guys on top of one another all along.

  42. 42.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    If we hammer Rick Scott’s plans for social security – as we should every single day – we could mitigate the usual strong R lean of 65+ crowd – present company excluded, of course.

    I am still hoping to see & hear it.

  43. 43.

    robmassing

    @R-Jud: what is up with that big black spot on his left temple? He should get that looked at. Or on second thought just let it fester and eventually kill him.

  45. 45.

    HumboldtBlue

    Kudos to Sen. Whitehouse for shining a light on the dark money (secret donors) behind the right-wing campaign to remake the Supreme Court. Best argument I’ve heard for (1) outlawing dark money, and (2) expanding the size of the Court.

  52. 52.

    TaMara

    This probably deserves its own post but since we are coming up on site maintenance, I’ll leave it here.

  53. 53.

    dm

    @Baud: Yes, that 65+ number is weird.

    65+ is people who came of age during the sixties, and remember the sexual revolution, looking at overturning Roe, and the impact it will have on their grand-daughters?

    They’re retired, and able to watch the daytime broadcasts of the Jan. 6 committee hearings?

    Somehow the Rick Scott Social Security proposals have come to their attention?

  54. 54.

    Leto

    @HumboldtBlue: he’s been speaking about it for a few years now. Glad he’s still going at it. He’s specifically called out Lenard Leo and the Federalist Society over and over.

  57. 57.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    My guess is that message will be micro targeted to seniors. You may not see a national ad blitz.

    That’s the trend. And it is the method that supposedly gave us Brexit & Trump.

    Republicans are ahead of us on micro-targeting. I think it’s because they are wired in with the voracious capitalists who developed it.

  60. 60.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    My guess is that message will be micro targeted to seniors. You may not see a national ad blitz.

    65 is a few years in the rearview for me.  I should be on the receiving end of any micro-targeting aimed at the Social Security/Medicare demographic, but crickets so far.

  66. 66.

    Leto

    ProPublica: Ex husband suing ex wife 4yrs after she had an abortion, that he was present for, while they were married

    TLDR: Arizona Man sues his ex-wife in 2020 after finding out a man in Alabama was able to sue his ex wife for an abortion she had while they were together. Plaintiff was with defendant during the abortion procedure but now is claiming she had no right to have an abortion and the clinic is at fault. Men suing clinics and women for having abortions is a another form of control and manipulation. PLEASE VOTE!

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    The Dems know you’re solid, man.  They won’t waste resources on you.

    My junk email account says otherwise.

  68. 68.

    satby

    @HumboldtBlue: And this time, the over-65s will believe it when they didn’t before. Because Roe was overturned.

    Also because that’s the age group from when Roe was decided and many of them fought for abortion rights.

  69. 69.

    HumboldtBlue

    @satby:

    I just saw a tweet about 20 minutes ago reporting on a 15-point swing between 65+ voters, so it’s not just one source.

  70. 70.

    James E Powell

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I don’t mind Fetterman owning Oz on social media, but I’d really like to hear more about his organizing & messages to voters. I’m assuming that is going on as well & hope it’s going well. He looks like a lock against that TV clown, but after 2016, I will never feel comfortable again.

  71. 71.

    Scout211

    Some hopeful news about the upcoming senate vote on the Respect for Marriage Act.  https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/politics/same-sex-marriage-republican-senators/index.html

    CNN)Republican and Democratic senators said Wednesday they expect a bill to codify same-sex marriage to eventually win the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, a sign of growing public acceptance and a sea change over an issue that had once badly divided the two parties.
    While most GOP senators are likely to vote against the bill, lawmakers in both parties believe there will be at least 10 Republicans who would join all 50 Democrats and advance the bill to a final up-or-down vote.
    Buoyed by the 47 Republicans who voted for similar legislation that passed the House Tuesday, senators expected a similar show of bipartisan support when the measure hits the Senate floor.
    One key Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, told CNN Wednesday he “probably will” support the bill. And, importantly, Republican Whip John Thune said he expects the legislation will have similarly strong GOP support in the Senate as it got in the House.

  72. 72.

    HumboldtBlue

    @James E Powell:

    His health remains a concern, and he hasn’t returned to active campaigning yet.

    Democrat John Fetterman posted a massive $11 million fundraising haul during the second quarter. He’s on an advertising spree that’s made him a near-constant presence on television in Pennsylvania. And he grabs attention with snarky, irreverent social media posts.

    The only thing missing from one of the most competitive U.S. Senate races this year is the candidate himself.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    @Mike in NC:

    He should have a navy shower awarded to him every day of the trial and every day of the 2 yr sentence.

    Now thankfully I’m no longer in the navy, nor am I a resident of any jail, including the one he’ll occupy, but still I’d bet if the brush handles are long enough, there would be plenty of volunteers.

  74. 74.

    The Moar You Know

    Asked whether he believed his jury could be fair, Bannon replied, “Yes, I do.”

    And his lawyer shrugged, realizing there was not going to be any avenue for appeal.

  75. 75.

    cmorenc

    @Betty Cracker:

    PS: I didn’t know the judge in the Bannon case is a Trump appointee. That sucks. I was hoping the sumbitch would get at least a few months in the hoosegow.

    Sometimes federal judicial appointments work as the framers had inended – lifetime tenure means that once sworn in, they don’t owe the President who appointed them anything, and they act independently of the wishes of the President who appointed them.  Other times, federal judicial appointments are chosen with their inclination to follow a particular ideological agenda in mind.

    But in either case, sometimes even a very ideological judge will choose a case like Bannon’s to prove the point that they act on their own judgment, rather than to please the President who nominated them.  So the fact that Trump appointed the Judge presiding over Bannon’s trial won’t necessarily be of much help to Bannon, if the Judge sees the event as an occasion to burnish their cred as a judge rather than Trump’s political hack.  Even if the Judge turns out to be awful in the majority of cases that come before him or her.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:.

    I’ll say this: Social Security is vital to the way this country works. We spend decades doing something, our little bit if you will, and paying in a reasonable percentage of our wages (or perceived as unreasonable if you are one of those who limits out because of the amount you make) and then you get to a point that retirement is necessary and you start drawing out of those funds you’ve put in over the decades, in my case an actual six decades, and you survive till the end of your life. IOW, a human existence. You provide a service(s) or product(s) that society needs or wants and you get in return an ability to not have to walk/crawl into a corner to waste away and die quickly because you no longer can be reasonably productive. You get a very earned vacation. Rethuglicans want you to sit in that corner and waste away and die, quickly now, because you are useless negative to their bank accounts.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @ian:

    Bannon has evidenced no such useful purpose whatsoever.

    FIXIT for you.

    A horrible waste of protoplasm. A stench upon the planet as it were.

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I’m hoping he’s following doctors’ orders and saving his energies for post-Labor Day when people are paying attention.

  80. 80.

    mrmoshpotato

    Contempt?This disgusting bastard is on trial for CONTEMPT?!

    BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

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