On Tuesday, CBS News' Scott MacFarlane reported that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon put forward a new court filing in his criminal case, complaining that the Justice Department has shown "unparalleled arrogance" and that the prosecutors "are in a deep hole."
In court filing this morning in his criminal contempt of Congress case.... Steve Bannon argues the Justice Dept has demonstrated "unparalleled arrogance and is extraordinarily disingenuous"pic.twitter.com/lj8b5ofcsy— Scott MacFarlane (@Scott MacFarlane) 1647347957
Bannon's outrage stems from the Justice Department's gathering of phone and email records from Robert Costello, an attorney for Bannon who also represented Rudy Giuliani. This, Bannon argues, is a violation of attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors, however, say that because Costello represented Bannon during his refusal to cooperate with the House January 6 Committee — and Bannon alleges he refused on advice of counsel — he is a witness to Bannon's criminal conduct and privilege does not apply.
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Bannon was charged with contempt of Congress after he rebuffed all subpoenas from the committee to turn over information about his knowledge of the January 6 attack, even though he admits he helped plan the rally that came before the attack, to "kill the Biden presidency in the crib."
He has claimed that he is simply following orders from Trump to invoke executive privilege, even though most legal experts believe Trump can't invoke executive privilege out of office and even if he could, it wouldn't apply here because Bannon wasn't an employee of the White House at the time.
