January 6 walls closing in on those tied to that horrible day
in American history as noted in this
CNBC story & headline:
“House Select Committee probing January
6 Capitol riot issues subpoenas to four Trump allies, including former CofS Mark
Meadows and former Strategist Steve Bannon”
Spotlight on Bannon and
rightly so and in his own words, too seen below.
This overall from the CNBC report is presented by Shep Smith
in a short video segment.
The subpoenas also sent to former White House Deputy Chief
of Staff for Communications, Dan Scavino, and to former DOD official, Kashyap
Patel.
The committee news release says the four witnesses must produce
materials by October 7 and appear at depositions in the coming weeks. The
committee instructed Bannon and Patel to appear for depositions on October 14,
while Meadows and Scavino’s depositions are set for October 15.
The subpoenas mark a sharp escalation in the committee’s
probe, which aims to deliver a definitive analysis of the Jan. 6 invasion, in
which hundreds of Trump’s supporters forced Congress into hiding and
temporarily derailed the process of confirming President Biden's 2020 victory.
A spokesman for Meadows declined CNBC’s request for comment,
and a spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for
comment, however, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich claimed in a statement that the
“Communist-style House” committee subpoenas were overbroad and lacking merit,
saying: “Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of President
Trump and his administration, but also on behalf of the Office of the President
of the United States and the future of our nation. The “Fake News” continues to
take the Democrats bait, who are trying desperately to distract the country
with this bogus process.”
In another, much longer, statement sent later that night, Trump criticized the committee and the Biden administration and repeated the false claim that “the 2020 election he lost was rigged against him,” saying: “Hopefully the Unselect Committee will be calling witnesses on the Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, which is the primary reason that hundreds of thousands of people went to Washington, DC in the first place.”
The announcement comes two
days after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the committee would move to subpoena
some witnesses as a first course of action if they are seen to be resistant or
hostile to the panel’s goals.
In individually addressed letters, Select Committee Chairman
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) explained why the witnesses are believed to have
relevant information for the committee’s investigation this way:
1. In the letter to Meadows for example, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said: “He was engaged in multiple elements of planning efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election and delay the counting of electoral votes.”
That letter also noted that Meadow had been in contact with
organizers of the January 6 insurrection, including Amy Kremer of Women for
America First, and cited documents provided by the DOJ that show Meadows had
requested investigations into election fraud matters in several states.
2. In the letter to Bannon, Thompson detailed Bannon’s efforts
to persuade members of Congress to block the certification of the election at
the Willard Hotel on January 5, and citing Bob Woodward’s book (“Peril”) about
the Trump administration. It also noted that Bannon had urged the former
president on December 30 to “focus his efforts” on January 6 – the date for the
final EC vote certification in Congress overseen by then VP Mike Pence.
Plus, this from
The Hill Bannon’s possible incriminating statements:
Bannon in his podcast told Trump: “Kill this administration
in the crib early on ahead of the Biden presidency and January 6.”
His words further repeated: “We told President
Trump: You need to kill this administration in the crib early on just by its
own incompetence and its illegitimacy,” on his Wednesday episode
of his podcast.
He continued: “It killed itself. Just let this go with what
this illegitimate regime is doing. It killed itself. We told you from the very
beginning. Just expose it. Just expose it. Never back down. Never give up. This
thing will implode.”
Bannon's comments follow reporting from the new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and The Washington Post's Robert Costa, in which Bannon expresses similar sentiment to then-President Trump ahead of the January 6 insurrection, with Costa saying: “He's also someone who we realized was talking to President Trump in the final days of the Trump presidency (Costa said on MSNBC, speaking of Bannon). Talking to President Trump even on January 5, the eve of the insurrection, and saying to president Trump, based on our reporting, to kill the Biden presidency in the crib.”
Side notes on Bannon and
his previous statements on changing government when he was advising Trump back
in 2017, explained
in this article from the Washington Post: “The reclusive mastermind
behind President Trump’s nationalist ideology and combative tactics made his
public debut Thursday, delivering a fiery rebuke of the media and declaring
that the new administration is in an unending battle for “the deconstruction
of the administrative state.”
He used his first speaking
appearance since Trump took office to vow that the president would honor all of
the hardline pledges of his campaign.
Appearing at a gathering
of conservative activists alongside Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Bannon
dismissed the idea that Trump might moderate his positions or seek consensus
with political opponents.
Rather, he said, the White House is digging in for a long period of conflict to transform Washington and upend the world order.
Meanwhile at home –
world order: Get in line:
(Monday, March 14,
2017 from
the Baltimore Sun here in part):
Trump signed an EO
christened “A comprehensive plan for reorganizing the executive branch.”
It directs the “Director
of OPM to propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate
unnecessary agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of title 5, United States
Code); components of agencies, and agency programs; eliminate unnecessary
agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code),
components of agencies, and agency programs.”
That's right, get rid of
federal agencies. And we can guess which ones they will be.
When Trump's budget is
released, it will likely become even more painfully clear what the regime's
chief strategist, Steve Bannon, meant when he talked about the “Deconstruction
of the administrative state.”
But we've got a pretty good sense of how this is going to
go, with the Post reporting that Trump's budget proposal “would shake the
federal government to its core, which is precisely what Bannon hopes to do.
“If you look at these cabinet nominees, they were selected
for a reason, and that is deconstruction,” Bannon said at the ultra-right CPAC
conference.
It seems Bannon was using the fancy word “deconstruction” to add
intellectual heft — and perhaps to troll leftist professors — when the EO made
it clear he really meant “destruction.”
And the EO calls on the heads of all of the agencies to look for ways to eliminate them.
3. In the letter to Scavino, it underscores his long service
with Trump spanning a decade, and it details his knowledge about the former
president’s plans leading up to the January 6 insurrection.
It said the committee was seeking materials that Scavino may
have that are relevant to Trump’s “videotaping and tweeting messages” on January
6. The letter also cited Scavino’s own posts on Twitter that promoted the
“January 6 March for Trump” and encouraged people to “be a part of
history.”
4. In the Patel letter, Thompson claimed that the committee
has substantial reason to believe he has additional materials that can help
them understand the role that both DOD and the White House had in preparing for
and responding to the insurrection.
My 2 Cents: Not much to add to this piece, which has excellent links and very reputable sources on this overall move by the House Select Committee as digs deeper into the January 6 events.
I suspect there a lot of nervous people around Trump – namely the 4
mentioned above and mostly Steve Bannon for his inflammatory words, which I’m
pretty sure Trump loved.
It makes for a good read and bookmark – hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for stopping by.
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