Clearly, the Department of Justice wants to make an example out of former Trump aide, Steve Bannon, after he was found guilty of not answering a subpoena from the January 6th committee. The crazy thing about this is that the DOJ is recommending Bannon face the maximum for what is essentially a misdemeanor.
The DOJ wants Bannon to serve 6 months in prison and pay a $200,000 fine for not complying with the J6 committee.
In a filing Monday, the Justice Department said “the rioters that overran the Capitol on January 6 did not just attack a building—they assaulted the rule of law upon which this country was built and through which it endures.”
Bannon, a former Trump aide, says that he was protected by executive privilege but according to the DOJ, that just isn’t so. To them, even if Bannon was still acting as an advisor to Trump, he was no longer an employee of the government. They argue that Bannon left the White House back in 2017.
“By floating the Select Committee’s subpoena and its authority, the Defendant exacerbated that assault,” the Justice Department wrote. “To this day, he continues to unlawfully withhold documents and testimony that stand to help the Committee’s authorized investigation to get to the bottom of what led to January 6 and ascertain what steps must be taken to ensure that it never happens again.”
The DOJ added: “That cannot be tolerated.”
The DOJ said that respect for the rule of law is “essential to the functioning of the United States government and to preserving the freedom and good order this country has enjoyed for more than two centuries.”
“The Defendant’s bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment,” the Justice Department said, recommending that the court impose a six-month prison sentence “reflecting the most severe Guidelines-compliant punishment available” and fine Bannon $200,000.
Bannon’s plan now seems to be to appeal the ruling. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes but I just thought it was strange that the DOJ would make such a hard recommendation over a misdemeanor. It’s so rare that it’s almost unheard of.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.