On Thursday, multiple legal experts weighed in on the criminal referral of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress — and urged the Justice Department to act on it as quickly as possible.
Former House impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman made abundantly clear that the issue of executive privilege is a red herring — and that the main battle is over whether a former president has the authority to let his allies ignore orders from Congress.
You may hear a lot about executive privilege re Bannon. But that\u2019s not the issue. The issue is whether anyone can defy a congressional subpoena to testify at the direction of a POTUS. The McGahn case says \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d does not exist. EP is only relevant when he testifies.— Daniel Goldman (@Daniel Goldman) 1634852004
Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to not "take more than a week or so" in his decision, saying, "Everyone needs to move past this culture of delay and slow-play."
Garland really shouldn\u2019t take more than a week or so to make the call on charging Bannon. Everyone needs to move past this culture of delay and slow-play.— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1634855046
And former Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe took it a step further, suggesting that if Garland does not prosecute Bannon, he should be replaced at the Justice Department.
Hate to be this blunt, but if DOJ doesn\u2019t pursue Bannon\u2019s indictment, it needs new leadership. Period. Full stop.https://twitter.com/repadamschiff/status/1451281686822522887\u00a0\u2026— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1634849826
The committee's move comes amid Bannon's total refusal to cooperate with the committee, and amid fears that if Republicans win control of the House of Representatives next year, they can shut down the committee if it has not yet produced its findings on the January 6 Capitol attack.
