Washington-Sana
The US House of Representatives approved yesterday the launch of prosecutions for obstruction of Congress against Steve Bannon, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, who refuses to participate in the investigations into the attack on the Capitol Building.
According to Agence France-Presse, all 220 Democratic lawmakers in the House voted in favor of the resolution that mandates the prosecutors to consider the indictment of Bannon and refer it to the federal prosecutor to decide whether to formally indict him.
"Bannon stands alone in his challenge, and we will not defend him," House Inquiry Committee Chairman Benny Thompson said.
Bannon was one of the architects of Trump's presidential campaign in 2016, and lawmakers believe that his statement is essential because it is supposed to help find out what Trump was doing before and during the attack on Congress, and it could also reveal the role Bannon himself played in organizing the insurgency and the efforts he might have made to coordinate with Trump and his assistants.
Despite being summoned, Bannon did not appear in parliament last week.
Several members of Congress point to comments Bannon made on his podcast in the days before and the morning of the rebellion.
For his part, Bannon said that Trump's lawyer advised him not to appear before the committee based on the right of presidents to keep some documents and discussions secret, but the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry believes that this protection does not apply to Trump because he is no longer president nor to Bannon.
On January 6, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building and rioted inside it, before the two chambers of Congress held a joint session to ratify the results of the presidential election, which led to the killing of 4 people and the arrest of dozens.
