Steve Bannon to try turning his contempt trial into being all about Joe Biden: court documents

President Joe Biden has nothing to do with the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, but that doesn't mean Steve Bannon isn't going to try and drag him into it.

Bannon refused to appear before the House when subpoenaed, and instead of using the House to fight against the subpoena, Bannon is choosing another route. The Daily Beast explained that Donald Trump's former campaign CEO and senior White House aide is attempting to attack Biden over whether his appointees were involved in the decision to prosecute him for contempt.

A grand jury was impaneled when the House referred the contempt charge to the Justice Department. The grand jury then looked at the evidence and indicted Bannon. The Justice Department didn't make that decision, the grand jury did.

"In its subpoena, the Select Committee said it had reason to believe that Bannon had information relevant to understanding events related to Jan. 6. Bannon, formerly a Chief Strategist and Counselor to the President, has been a private citizen since departing the White House in 2017," said the Justice Department release on the indictment.

Bannon's lawyers filed court documents saying they're seeking evidence from the White House and Justice Department that includes “documents reflecting the decision to charge Mr. Bannon."

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols is presiding over the case and was appointed in 2019 by former President Donald Trump.

"Although the DOJ did not say so in its filing Monday night, the legislators who kickstarted this process have made clear they want to make an example out of Bannon to show that witnesses will be punished for defying congressional subpoenas," said the Daily Beast.

Bannon, on the other hand, is pressing for the trial to happen just before the 2022 election in Oct.

The report said that the Justice Department recognizes the uniqueness of the trial. "It involves a former president claiming he still has the power to exercise executive privilege and keep his ex-employees from helping the current government conduct an investigation."

The Justice Department said that the Bannon "case raises complex constitutional issues of first impression. Some of these issues involve inter-branch relationships and on the operations of the U.S. government at its highest levels."

Read the full report at the Daily Beast.