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The former chief strategist and adviser to former President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, asked the courts on Friday to allow documents relating to the charge of contempt of Congress for which he is being tried to be made public.
In a statement, the man who decisively influenced Trump’s campaign in 2016 and in the first months of his government assured that citizens should be able to have the documents to build their own idea about whether the Department of Justice is acting correctly in the case against him.
The team of lawyers representing him indicated that if these documents are not made public, the judicial process will be more complicated.
Last Nov. 17, Bannon pleaded not guilty to two criminal contempt of Congress charges for refusing to testify and not turning over documents to the legislative committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on Capitol Hill.
Each of the charges against him carries a penalty of between 30 days and one year in prison, as well as a fine of between $100 and $100,000.
In mid-November, the former Trump ally turned himself in at the FBI’s Washington office and hours later a judge ordered his release, although his passport was taken away to prevent him from fleeing the country.
Bannon’s formal indictment came after the House of Representatives held Bannon in contempt on Oct. 21 for refusing to cooperate with the committee investigating the Capitol attack.
The committee wanted Bannon to testify because it believes he had some prior knowledge about what was going to happen that Jan. 6, when Congress was scheduled to certify the election victory of the president, Joe Biden, and Trump had called for a protest in Washington.
The criminal case against Bannon could take years to resolve in court.
