Steve Bannon's defense accused of lying to a judge – in after midnight DOJ court filing: report

The U.S. Department of Justice dropped an after-midnight bombshell on former Donald Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon early Monday morning.

Attorney Luppe Luppen said, "DOJ coming in hot with a filing after midnight saying the FBI interviewed a Trump lawyer and determined Bannon’s counsel lied to the J6 Committee."

"On June 29, 2022, former President Donald Trump's attorney, who sent the letter on which the defendant claimed his noncompliance was based, confirmed what his correspondence has already established: that the former president never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials; that the former president's counsel never asked or was asked to attend the defendant's deposition before the select committee, that the defendant's attorney misrepresented to the committee what the former president's counsel had told the defendant's attorney; and that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance," the DOJ argued.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote, "This is consistent with my view of Bannon's ploy. It's a gimmick intended to help his defense in his upcoming criminal trial on the 18th."

"DOJ will try to keep this out of evidence at trial. But the Committee should call Bannon's bluff and get documents and a private interview," he explained.

USA Today columnist Michael Stern thought it was all a part of Bannon's criminal defense strategy.

He wrote that "DOJ is disclosing this (which will undoubtedly be used at trial) for a particular purpose: to stop Bannon from claiming at trial that his current willingness to comply undoes his criminal act in refusing to comply previously."