“Later that same month, on November 15th of last year, the Justice Department arrested one of the most prominent critics, that would be former Trump advisor Steve Bannon,” says Fox host on his 2022 Despots and Autocrats Tour Tucker Carlson. “Now, what did Steve Bannon due wrong? Did he commit a crime on January 6th? No, he didn’t, and no one claims otherwise. Instead, Bannon’s ‘crime’ is that he didn’t bend a knee to the January 6th Committee. He cited executive privilege. According to Nancy Pelosi, that means Steve Bannon belongs in jail.”
Let’s parse this, shall we? On November 15, 2021, Bannon was, in fact, booked on criminal contempt of Congress charges after being indicted by a grand jury. In other words, a grand jury of fellow citizens found enough credible evidence to charge him with two criminal acts. And we’re not sure if Bannon committed any crimes on January 6th itself, but given he was in the Willard Hotel “war room,” it smells rather crime-y.
So yeah, there are a lot of people who claim Bannon committed a crime on January 6th, though he was not part of the direct assault on the Capitol. We’re learning how various people–similar to Bannon–including Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeaduhh advised the White House before, during and after January 6th. And somehow, Bannon kept telling his podcast audience to gather on January 6th to overthrow the government.
Bannon’s “crime” is not that he didn’t “bend a knee” to the Committee; his crime, as charged by a grand jury, was failing to comply with a legally issued subpoena which would bring any other citizen into legal trouble. Is Bannon–who was pardoned by Trump for his role in defrauding people out of millions of dollars in a fake border wall scam–above prosecution, Tuck’ums? No. No, he really ain’t.
And Bannon was a White House advisor in 2017 for less than eight months. For him to claim “executive privilege” for information about his contacts with the White House in 2021 is laughable. Unless, of course, you’re claiming the White House was conspiring with Bannon on something… which nullifies any executive privilege claims.
Finally, yeah, according to Nancy Pelosi, Bannon’s actions merit jail time. She’s not the only one to think that… ’cause, y’know, we have actually laws that he’s openly violated. So Tucker got that part right. Here’s your sign.