House to file legal brief in support of Trump ally Steve Bannon – Washington Examiner
House Republican leaders have decided to file an amicus brief in the ongoing court case against former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who is currently awaiting sentencing for a contempt of Congress conviction. The decision was made by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which includes House leaders and whips from both major parties. The decision to file was passed by a vote of 3-2 along party lines, with Republican leaders in favor and Democratic leaders opposed.
The brief itself will be submitted to the D.C. Circuit court after Bannon seeks a rehearing, and it will be neutral, supporting neither party involved in the case. This move comes as House Republican leadership expresses continued belief that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi had misused her authority in the organization of the Select Committee tasked with investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The brief will also retract some arguments previously made by the House regarding the organization of the committee during the last Congress.
House Republican leaders announced on Wednesday they will file an amicus brief to the D.C. Circuit court overseeing the case against former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon as he awaits a sentence for his contempt of Congress conviction.
The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, comprised of majority and minority whips and leaders, voted along party lines, 3-2, to file the brief that will be submitted after Bannon files for rehearing and will be “in support of neither party.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) voted in favor, while House Democratic leadership voted against.
The brief “will withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress.”
“House Republican Leadership continues to believe Speaker Pelosi abused her authority when organizing the Select Committee,” majority leadership wrote in a release.
Last week, Bannon filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court requesting that his prison sentence be delayed as he appeals his contempt of Congress charges. He was found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee and is scheduled to report to prison by July 1 for a four-month sentence at a low-security prison in Connecticut.
The brief will stand as a legal test to see whether Congress can effectively discredit previous actions that were conducted under opposing party leadership. During interviews with Fox News and CNN on Tuesday, Johnson called the work of the Jan. 6 select committee “tainted.”
“We’re working on filing an amicus brief in his appellate work there in his case because the Jan. 6 committee was, we think, wrongfully constituted,” Johnson said to Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “We think the work was tainted. We think that they may have very well covered up evidence and maybe even more nefarious activities.”
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“We’ve been investigating the committee itself; we disagree with how Speaker Pelosi put all that together; we think it violated House rules,” the speaker added. “And so we’ll be expressing that to the court, and I think it will help Steve Bannon in his appeal.”
The Supreme Court is Bannon’s last venue for his bid to not have to report to federal prison on July 1 after his previous efforts to delay the sentence failed. The high court has requested that the Justice Department, which has opposed Bannon’s previous attempts to delay his prison sentence, file its response to Bannon’s latest application by 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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