Former President Donald Trump is considering sending a letter to Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist and an outspoken advocate of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, saying that he is waiving executive privilege, potentially clearing the way for his former chief strategist to testify before the House select committee investigating the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.
The letter would reiterate that Trump invoked executive privilege in September 2021, when Bannon was first subpoenaed by the House committee. But it would say that the former president is now willing to give up that claim if Bannon can reach an agreement on the terms of an appearance before the panel, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, shown in August 2020. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Associated Press
Some advisers were seeking to talk Trump out of signing the letter.
Bannon was charged with contempt of Congress in November 2021 for refusing to comply with the subpoena. A trial on those charges is scheduled to begin July 18, though Bannon has sought to delay the proceedings.
The committee has argued that claims of executive privilege are not valid for Bannon, who was a private citizen at the time of Jan. 6, 2021. The committee has also said that Bannon was required to respond to the subpoena in some way, citing claims of privilege on a question-by-question basis instead of by refusing to respond in any way.
“Even if your client had been a senior aide to the President during the time period covered by the contemplated testimony, which he was most assuredly not, he is not permitted by law to the type of immunity you suggest that Mr. Trump has requested he assert,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote to Bannon’s attorney in October.
The government has declined to bring contempt charges against other former Trump aides who have also cited executive privilege, including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former adviser Peter Navarro.
An attorney for Bannon and a spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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