Along With the Now Indicted Steve Bannon, Whom Has The Jan. 6 Select Committee Subpoenaed — and Why?

November 15, 2021 By Associated Press 2 Comments

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has issued almost three dozen subpoenas as it aggressively seeks information about the origins of the attack and what former President Donald Trump did — or didn’t do — to stop it.

The panel — which referred Trump campaign and White House strategist Steve Bannon’s flouting of a subpoena to the Department of Justice, leading to Friday’s criminal indictment — is exploring several paths simultaneously, demanding testimony from Trump’s inner circle about his actions that day as well as from outside advisers who organized the rally he spoke at the morning of Jan. 6 and allies who strategized about how to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. They are also turning toward former Vice President Mike Pence’s orbit and questioning witnesses about efforts to pressure him to stop the congressional electoral count.

An attendee’s sign calls for the impeachment of Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida speaks at a rally in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Jan. 28. Cheney is one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6. MICHAEL CIAGLO/GETTY IMAGES

The committee is expected to issue more subpoenas as some witnesses, especially those closest to Trump, have indicated they won’t comply or refused to answer questions. But lawmakers on the panel have already talked to more than 150 people, most of them voluntarily, about what led up to the violent siege by Trump’s supporters.

While the committee doesn’t have the power to charge or otherwise punish anyone for their actions, the seven Democrats and two Republicans on the panel say they hope to build the most comprehensive record yet of what happened when hundreds of Trump’s supporters brutally pushed past police and broke into the Capitol, interrupting the certification of Biden’s victory.

A look at whom the committee has subpoenaed, and what is to come in the panel’s investigation:

Trump’s inner circle: The committee’s first subpoenas in late September went to four men who were among his most loyal allies: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Bannon, longtime communications aide Daniel Scavino and Kashyap Patel, a White House national-security aide who had moved to the Pentagon in the weeks after Trump lost the election.

Bannon immediately told the panel he wouldn’t cooperate, citing a letter from Trump’s lawyer claiming that his conversations should be privileged and shielded from the public. The committee balked at that reasoning and the House voted to hold Bannon in contempt, referring the matter to the Justice Department, ultimately resulting in Friday’s two-count indictment against Bannon alleging criminal contempt of Congress.

Meadows could also be held in contempt after his lawyer indicated Thursday that he would not testify, saying in a statement that the courts would have to decide, after the White House notified him that Biden would waive Trump’s claims of executive privilege over the testimony.

From the archives (September 2020): White House chief of staff Mark Meadows lashes out as FBI director fails to echo Trump claims about vote fraud

The House has since subpoenaed several other well-known members of Trump’s circle, including former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and top aides Stephen Miller and Jason Miller. The committee said all three participated in efforts to spread false information and may have been with Trump as the attack unfolded — a key area of investigation, as little is still known about what he did to try to stop it.

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Steve Bannon Is Worse Than the #NeverTrump Republicans

January 16, 2018 By Todd Royal 5 Comments

Steve BannonDespite having over 91% of all mainstream news stories negative against President Trump, he still has accomplished cutting corporate and individual taxes, repealing the Obamacare individual mandate, appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, added a record number of conservative judges to the circuit courts, rid the booming economy and stock market of unnecessary regulations, destroyed ISIS and approved energy exploration and transformative pipeline projects in states like North Dakota; according to Byron York of the Washington Examiner. Additionally, eleven Obama legacy items have been repealed.

Enter Steve Bannon and his “dubiously sourced,” gossip-laden new book that trashes Trump, but now he’s “apologizing” for what he said. Unfortunately he’s doing that awful Republican trait of eating our own. He broke Reagan’s 11th commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican.” And for that Bannon is now worse than the #NeverTrump Republicans while becoming “his own worst enemy.”

Seemingly, liberal icon George Clooney was prescient when he trashed Bannon, and certainly Bannon’s usefulness came to a conclusion when he lost Alabama by endorsing Judge Roy Moore. What he should be doing now is showing penance for his stupidity.

Certainly the California Republican Party (CRP) doesn’t need this type of press or derisive confusion that now emanates from the Bannon brand of Breitbart-Republicanism. The maddening part is Andrew Breitbart would more than likely applaud Trump who actually fights back and doesn’t roll over the way the Bush’s, Romney and McCain Republican-types have for decades.

For all Bannon’s bluster he seems to have forgotten what happens when Democrats have absolute control of a state (California). More about California’s woes in ensuing paragraphs, because there are different choices when it comes to both imperfect parties. The adage, “the enemy of the good is the perfect,” is true. However, Bannon took it to mean let’s blow up the Republican Party without consideration of what that means. The national Republican Party and CRP have their problems, but anyone who thinks Democrats or independents are the solution doesn’t understand what it means to have a viable society.

The days of my father’s Democratic Party that included FDR, Truman, JFK, and Pat Brown is over, replaced by a no-growth, regulation-heavy, environmentally beholden anything goes “cultural leviathan,” that did nothing to deter Iran, Russia, China and North Korea while shunning traditional allies.

The contrast between Trump and the Obama-inspired Democrats couldn’t be more different and this is where Bannon tragically fails. The numerous policy and philosophical differences between Trump and Obama, including the horrible divide between Trump and Democratic California is only growing. Exemplified by California legalizing marijuana, which has been a disaster for Colorado.

View the differences – big and small – Trump is more press accessible than Obama ever was and allows his Cabinet officers to do their job that wasn’t previously the case. His Russian policies are tougher and more effective than the #NeverTrumpers or Bannon ever realized. Trump would never vote for Bernie Sanders – but that’s exactly what took place in the last election when President George H.W. Bush bragged about voting for Hillary Clinton over Trump.

Trump’s economy is booming compared to Obama’s with labor growth and consumer confidence both at seventeen-year highs. African-American unemployment rate is at record lows and something Republicans and the CRP should pounce on in this next election cycle. What does Bannon and the #NeverTrumpers have to say about those figures that affect all Americans? Moreover, Obama governed based on division of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and curtailing religious freedom, growing the administrative state and stretching the limits of the constitution. Whereas, Trump believes in America exceptionalism and a regime based on the actual constitution – not a living constitution.

I’d posit that Obama governed all facets of America the way James Burnham in Suicide of the West wrote about modern liberalism:

“Liberalism permits Western Civilization to be reconciled to dissolution. The Principle function of modern liberalism is to facilitate the suicide of Western Civilization.”

When Bannon ran Breitbart he understood this truth about Democrats and Obama, but Bannon along with the #NeverTrumpers, have lost the existential battle Republicans and decent Californians are engaged in against the Democratic Party. It’s a struggle where the very lives of our babies depend on us beating the hegemonic totalitarianism that are today’s viciously vapid Democrats.

The biggest difference that affects the entire world is the differences in foreign policy. Syria is a disaster for a generation, China is on the march in the South China Sea, North Korea is a nuclear menace, Russia annexed Crimea, the Arab Spring has left the Middle East in shambles; and now Iran is a bigger threat than all the above problems combined based on their capabilities and the awful, Hezbollah-enabled, falsified, Iran nuclear deal. Protests – though well intentioned – aren’t changing the totalitarian, theocratic Iranian regime. Only an armed-to-the-teeth American military will deter the Ayatollah, IRGC, and Quds Force.

All of this happened under Obama and embraced by California Democrats. What does Bannon have to say about this? Nothing, because it’s easier to criticize Trump and make a bigger name for yourself than assist the President in dealing with problems that we haven’t seen since World War II.

Does Bannon realize that either Trump or his deregulatory experts (Scott Gottlieb, Scott Pruitt, Ajit Pai, Ryan Zinke, Betsey DeVos, Elain Chao, Neomi Rao) succeed over the #NeverTrump chattering class of (Max Boot, Michael Gerson, Jennifer Rubin, Bret Stephens, The Weekly Standard and National Review, etc.) because if Trump fails then the United States and California will fail. The rosy delusion printed recently by the Los Angeles Times doesn’t exist and won’t exist in the future unless men like Bannon and the #NeverTrumpers support Trump’s policy views.

If Bannon wants a place to fight then choose California and assist the CRP restore the home of Reagan. Just one of our pensions (CalPERS) has a $153 billion unfunded liability while our economy has slowed because of state worker pensions. According to the Social Science Research Council, California suffers the worst income inequality in the nation, the third worst economic environment for middle class families and over one-third of California’s population is at or near poverty. Tech-driven growth is nearing completion since the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed California’s GDP was 35th in the U.S. And The San Jose Mercury News reported the Bay Area lost 4,700 jobs – and 1,000 from the tech sector – because of a lack of affordable housing.

Our schools are in disarray, the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t addressing the issues killing black men and women, infrastructure needs over $800 billion in improvements and we still haven’t built any dams, reservoirs or canals to capture rainwater from the previous drought. Joel Kotkin calls it, “the what, me worry?” state of California. The CRP, Republican candidates and citizens being crushed by the California Democratic environmental-jihadists and tech oligarchy could use Steve Bannon’s help. But that is real work and change of this sort is a slow-motion effort to undo the “social opprobrium” that Trump and Republicans have with California voters.

Bannon has given fresh ammunition to the ilk trying to remove the duly elected president since the night he won. Proclaiming virtue is for CNN; Bannon should be learning how to bring manufacturing, single-family homes and blue-collar jobs back to California. Faulting Trump and putting the CRP on the defensive is inexcusable and time for Bannon to leave the political stage into the dustbin of history.

Todd Royal is a geopolitical risk and energy consultant based in Los Angeles.

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Bannon Receives Three Standing Ovations at GOP Convention Keynote

October 21, 2017 By Jon Fleischman 4 Comments

Steve Bannon(Orange County, CA)  Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon delivered a fiery keynote address to about 500 people at the opening dinner of the California Republican Party’s Fall Convention Friday night, praising President Trump and declaring war on the GOP establishment.

Stepping out from behind the podium, comfortably walking about the stage, Bannon gave a forty-minute-long speech covering a myriad of issues that began with effusive praise of President Trump, the importance of winning and how victories beget victories, and about the great challenge ahead in taking on the, “corporatists, lobbyists, consultants, and the politicians they control.”

In referring to his work with President Trump, Bannon said early in his remarks, “I’ve had the honor of being the CEO of his campaign, the chief strategist in the white house — and now I’m proud to say his wingman outside.”

“Donald Trump has been an existential threat to the system,” Bannon declared to overwhelming applause from the audience.

Bannon went on to talk about the importance of the recent victory of Judge Roy Moore in the Republican U.S. Senate runoff election in Alabama.

“We had to prove something,” Bannon said. “That the donor class and Mitch McConnell’s money doesn’t mean anything. They spent $32 million dollars against $2 million from Judge Roy Moore.  Judge Moore won 45-55.  It was the politics of personal destruction.  It was against Judge Moore and his wife…  And you know what they said his big crime was… he put the ten commandments in the city hall… The underpinnings of Judeo-Christian thought.”

Bannon talked quite a bit about the pieces of the winning coalition that won the Presidency for Trump and the Alabama GOP Senate nomination for Roy Moore – populists, nationalists, and Christians.

Bannon reminded the convention attendees that it is time to win in Washington, D.C.  He said that if we are going to do that we need unity on the right – and if Republicans can’t get together on Capitol Hill and actually get things done, “We’ll be run out of office, and deserve it.”

He said his vision for a united conservative movement is going to be executed by a “grassroots army.”

“It’s about one thing – are you a citizen of the United States of America?” Bannon asked the audience.  “Economic nationalism is not what’s going to drive us apart, it’s what’s going to bring us together.  GDP isn’t everything.  We are not an economy. We are a country.  We have a social fabric.  I’m a free market capitalist.  That’s the underpinnings of our society.  Economic nationalism means ensuring that jobs that we have allowed to go to Asia come back to the United States.”

Bannon said that American citizens should have a preference for jobs and economic opportunity.  And that people should have to compete against foreign labor and illegal alien labor.  He also decried Europe as being a protectorate of the United States, making no effort to protect themselves.  He said that this is changing, “It’s not that we are being isolationists. We have to start thinking like adults… We have to stop worrying about these global institutions… The rules-based international order has worked for everybody except the united states of America.”

“President Bush embarrassed himself,” Bannon said as he offered a stinging critique of President George W. Bush after the former President’s recent public criticisms of President Trump. “It is clear he didn’t understand anything he was talking about.  He had no idea whether he was coming or going.  Just like when he was President of the United States. There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s.”

Bannon’s strong criticism of Bush was met with a lot of applause in the GOP audience – which drew a surprised look from those in the room who clearly were not pleased someone speaking ill of the former Republican President.

It wasn’t just President Bush who was singled out by Bannon for his recent remarks, Bannon also was critical of U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ).  While careful to praise McCain for his service to the country, he said that McCain’s speech this week was “nothing but happy talk.”

Former President Bush and Senator McCain were both booed by the Republican audience.

At one point, Bannon also heckled Karl Rove. He said that he’d like to insult the establishment Republican consultant for his recent less-than-kind op-ed attacking the Breitbart Executive Chairman in the Wall Street Journal, but he “doesn’t like punching down.”

Bannon was also highly critical of China and President Xi Jinping. Bannon said that the Chinese, “have run the tables on us” – and that the United States has become a tributary state to China.”

Being here in California, Bannon targeted the tech leaders in the Silicon Valley, “We are going to have to worry about the Lords of technology in the Silicon Valley.  You’ve got a very dangerous thing going on in this state.”

In talking to the blue state crowd of Californians before him, Bannon said, “Winning matters.  You’re not here to waste your time.  You don’t want moral victories.  You want victory victories.  It’s time in California we started having some victories.

Bannon critiqued the actions of the left-wing Democrats in Sacramento and their making California a sanctuary state, warning everyone present: “You are a sanctuary state.  Trust me if you don’t roll this back — ten or fifteen years from now the folks from the Silicon Valley and the progressive left in this state are going to try and secede from this state.”

He went on to tell beleaguered California Republicans, “The resistance is not the people you see outside,” referring to the small group of protesters.  That’s actually, quite frankly, going to help Republicans” – saying that they will push the Democrats to the left.

In his final statement to the crowd, Bannon closed by admonishing the crowd, “It’s always darkest before the dawn…  The permanent political class who control this country and the progressive Democrats who sit on the other side of that are not just going to give this country back.  You’re going to have to take it back!”

When Bannon entered the dining room he was greeted with applause, a theme that continued with more applause throughout his forty minute speech at this dinner packed with GOP donors, activists and smattering of elected officeholders.  One notable dinner guest who came in from out of town was controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Arizona.  While Orange County is represented by four GOP Members of Congress – Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) – none of them were in attendance.

As Bannon’s remarks concluded, the buzz and energy in the room were palpable.  Reactions to the speech were effusive:

“He talked to us like we were adults and I think that terrifies the elitists,” said Jan Leja, the head of the San Bernardino County Republican Party. “And he’s not afraid to talk to us like adults and I think that was refreshing.”

Jim Lacy, a delegate from Orange County said that “Everything that Steve Bannon said about the leadership of President Trump was right on the mark – and his honest predictions about the long-term detrimental impacts of California becoming a sanctuary state.”

Grover Norquist, the President of Americans for Tax Reform, who was in the audience told Breitbart News, “It’s could have been a complaint speech but it wasn’t – it was an action speech — it was a call to war.”

Security was tight for the dinner – with all delegates and guests forced into two single-file lines and through metal detectors. Guests paid $100 for a plated dinner of filet mignon, or $300 to attend a VIP reception and the dinner, and get a photo with Bannon.  It was reported that protestors from the group Indivisible, that purports to be dedicated to preserving the “progressive ecosystem,” would be holding a major protest outside of the hotel.  That said, only a small handful of people showed up, and were dwarfed by a large contingent of officers from the Anaheim Police Department.

Until August, Bannon served in the Trump White House, and he is now spearheading a national effort to draft primary challengers to establishment Republican lawmakers.

As the Breitbart News Network previously reported Bannon has started meeting with notable Republican donors, many of whom remain frustrated by the Republican establishment’s inability to pass significant legislation such as repealing and replacing Obamacare, tax reform, and funding a southern border wall.

Bannon’s remarks opened a convention that will also feature speeches from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro and House Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

He received three standing ovations. One when he was introduced, the second at the start of his address, and again upon conclusion.

Jon Fleischman is the Politics Editor for Breitbart California. You can follow him on Twitter here.

This article was originally published by Breitbart.com/California

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