Assault on Capitol Hill: Steve Bannon charged with obstructing Congress

Steve Bannon, who was a close adviser to former President Donald Trump, has been charged with "obstructing" the investigative prerogatives of Congress.

The 67-year-old former adviser is being sued for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House of Representatives special committee investigating in the attack by thousands of Trump supporters on Capitol Hill on Jan.6.

This indictment "should send a clear message to all those who think they can ignore the commission or try to obstruct our investigation: no one is above the law", reacted Democrat Bennie Thompson and Republican Liz Cheney, leaders of the commission. Hours before Bannon's indictment, President Trump's former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows refused to appear before the committee for a deposition, risking being sued for obstructing Congress as well. .

Despite his summons to appear in mid-October, Steve Bannon did not appear before elected officials invoking the right of presidents to keep certain documents and discussions confidential.

According to the commission, a former president cannot invoke "executive privilege", which Trump is trying to argue in court.

"A piece of the puzzle"

Chief strategist of the campaign that led to the election of the Republican billionaire in November 2016, the populist adviser had spent a year in the White House.

In the following elections, he no longer had any official function in the presidential staff but remained an influential man in the Oval Office.

He continued to advise Trump as he meddled in international politics, including trying to influence Europe's far right, including Marine Le Pen and Marion Maréchal.

Seduced by Eric Zemmour's breakthrough, he is preparing to launch a French version of his podcast, “War room”, on the occasion of the presidential election next April.

To read also Steve Bannon: "What Zemmour brings to the global discussion of the populists, we need it"

His testimony should help understand what Donald Trump was doing before and during the January 6 assault. "He is a piece of the puzzle," said Adam Kinzinger, one of the two Republican elected members of this Democratic-majority commission. On January 5, he said in a podcast that "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow". “Everything converges and it's time to attack,” he also said. He was part of the "crisis cell" led by Trump advisers from a luxury Washington hotel before and after the assault on Congress headquarters to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

For contempt of Congress, Bannon faces between 30 days and a year in prison, up to $ 100,000 in fines, and will be tried in federal court.

He is also being prosecuted for refusing to produce documents.

Justice Department spokesman Bill Miller said Bannon "should surrender himself" to Washington on Monday, to appear in court for the first time in the case that same afternoon.

But this legal battle could take months or years, like the others launched by Trump to protect documents related to the events of January 6.

A Republicans' victory in the midterm parliamentary elections in November 2022 would also mark the end of the investigation.