Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon pledged to appeal his conviction for contempt of Congress on Friday, saying that he’s got a “long appeals process” coming up.
“I think the law’s with us on a number of situations,” Bannon told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. “I think some of this is really going to be adjudicated maybe even higher than the appellate courts. I’m feeling very confident that we’re 100 percent right on the law, but I’m going to fight this all the way.”
Bannon said he is “never backing off one inch” in supporting former President Trump and the Constitution after being convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection for testimony and documents relevant to the investigation.
He said he is not new to investigations, having been a witness during former Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government.
Bannon served as the CEO of Trump’s 2016 campaign.
He said the judge in his case “took away every possible defense” he could present in the case. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled against allowing Bannon’s legal defense team to argue that he was relying on his lawyers’ advice or that he had executive privilege rights in refusing to comply with the subpoena.
Bannon said if Republicans retake control of the House after the upcoming November midterm elections, they should create a new committee on the insurrection to investigate topics like intelligence “failures”; FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Guard involvement; and the death of Ashli Babbitt.
Babbitt entered the Capitol along with other rioters on Jan. 6. She was shot and killed while trying to enter the Speaker’s Lobby.
Federal prosecutors declined to press charges against the officer who fired the shot that killed Babbitt, finding “no evidence” to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting was unlawful.
“We have to get to the bottom of it, and people are going to get to the bottom of it,” Bannon said.
He said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chairwoman of the House Jan. 6 select committee, must be defeated in her primary next month, and Republicans must have a “sweeping” victory in the House.
“For the good of the system, this has to happen,” he said.