Former Trump administration strategist Steve Bannon has asked that the contempt of Congress charges in his case be postponed because he believes the hearings of the House Select Committee on January 6 have received too much media attention.
Bannon’s legal representatives, David Schoen, Robert Costello, and Evan Corcoran, asked for the trial to begin on October 25 rather than July 18, claiming the select committee’s planned series of hearings might sway the verdicts of the jury.
“Public effect includes not just the hearings themselves but also the media coverage that made the hearings more prominent.
Every major media outlet in Washington, D.C., where the trial will be held and where the offences charged in the indictment allegedly occurred, treated the hearings as a top news topic, the lawyers claimed, adding that “everyone accused of a crime is granted a fair trial” by the constitution.
The document also alleged that panellists from the Jan. 6 meeting made “inflammatory remarks” against Bannon and other former members of the Trump administration and that their “purported results” had been broadcast on television, including to viewers in the Washington, D.C. region.
The focus of the hearings has been on former President Trump’s and his associates’ efforts to persuade crucial decision-makers to refuse to certify President Biden’s victory and to try to alter the results of the 2020 election.
Bannon’s attorney argued that the original trial date of July 18 was ambitious and suggested that the trial should start later in the year due to the House panel’s hearing schedule.
“Those broadcasts have been packaged and re-broadcast in numerous forms, producing a saturation of the information sources available to Washington, D.C. citizens,” the complaint stated. To give the effects of the Select Committee hearing coverage a chance to abate, a continuance is necessary, according to the circumstances.
Last year, the former White House strategist entered a not guilty plea to the contempt charges, which federal prosecutors brought after Bannon disobeyed a subpoena from the select committee on January 6 and refused to disclose records.
Bannon’s counsel pointed out in their brief on Wednesday that five Proud Boys organization leaders’ trials were postponed as a result of the hearings on January 6 because their attorneys contended that the broadcast proceedings prevented them from receiving a fair trial from an unbiased jury.
The panel had its sixth hearing of the month on Tuesday, and it intends to get up again after the July 4 holiday.
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The hearings have focused on former President Trump’s and his associates’ attempts to influence key authorities not to certify President Biden’s victory and to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The initial trial date of July 18 was ambitious, according to Bannon’s counsel, who urged that the trial should begin later in the year due to the House panel’s hearing schedule.
The lawyers stated, “At the time trial was planned, neither the Court nor the parties were aware of the June and approaching July media blitz by the Select Committee.
