(TargetLiberty.org) – Steven Bannon’s legal team in a filing to the federal appeals court argued that the former senior aide of former President Donald Trump should not be required to serve jail time in Congress since he was just following legal advice.
Bannon was sentenced previously to four months in prison after being convicted of two counts of contempt after he defied a subpoena that had been sent by the House Jan. 6 committee. However, he has not yet been required to serve the sentence because of the pending appeal.
In his claim, Bannon’s team has argued that Bannon had never had any direct communication with the Jan. 6 committee and that all communication has passed through Robert Costello, his attorney. At the time, Costello had advised Bannon that he was not required to comply with the subpoena due to presidential privilege. This is the advice Bannon had followed when he chose to not comply.
David Schoen, Bannon’s attorney, has cited a previous D.C. Appeals Court precedent and has argued that Bannon should not be considered responsible for having followed the legal advice he had received and had believed to be “good faith.” Schoen pointed out that this precedent should stand even in cases when the advice presented by the lawyer had been an “inaccurate construction of the law.”
Schoen has also pointed out that previously Trump had asserted executive privilege over the topics that Bannon had been prompted to testify about. As such he pointed out that Bannon should be allowed to have a trial in which he can argue his case.
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