America First Legal (AFL) filed an amicus brief Wednesday on behalf of Georgia U.S. Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11), who chairs the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, in support of Stephen K. Bannon’s emergency stay application to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking his continued release pending further appeal of his convictions.
Bannon, former chief of staff to former President Donald Trump and host of the popular show War Room, was sentenced to four months imprisonment for a 2022 conviction on contempt of Congress charges for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 Select Committee.
Last week, Bannon appealed his case to Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who is charged with handling emergency appeals from Washington, D.C.
The January 6 Select Committee:
❌Ignored deposition rules.
❌Lacked a ranking minority member and therefore could not conduct lawful investigations.
❌Failed to follow the rules when it referred Stephen Bannon for contempt.
It was invalid and illegal from the start! https://t.co/OrNsF4Gcr5
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) June 27, 2024
On Wednesday, AFL filed an amicus brief on behalf of Loudermilk with the Supreme Court in support of Bannon’s appeal, pleading that the court should “conclude that the entire prosecutorial process against the applicant was tainted and must be dismissed as a matter of law.”
Loudermilk’s summarized argument in the amicus brief submitted to the court reads as follows:
The Select Committee violated the House Rules and House Regulations for the Use of Deposition Authority (“House Deposition Regulations”) which governed the Select Committee’s authority and ability to issue subpoenas and conduct depositions of witnesses. The House was not properly informed of this violation when it voted to hold Mr. Bannon in contempt. The Select Committee improperly sought to hold Mr. Bannon in contempt for refusing to appear for a deposition because the Select Committee did not have a Ranking Minority Member and, therefore, failed to comply with House Deposition Regulations and H. Res. 503 which required the Chairman of the Select Committee consult with the minority Ranking Member to conduct depositions in response to subpoenas. The Select Committee did not have a minority ranking member and therefore could not have complied with its mandate prior to eliciting deposition testimony. Thus, the Select Committee improperly asserted to the House that Mr. Bannon refused to appear for a duly executed deposition. The Select Committee’s lack of a Ranking Member meant it could not comply with the requirements of House Rules and Regulations, therefore, any attempt to conduct a deposition was procedurally flawed.
Thus, notwithstanding the applicant’s indictment and sentencing, the Select Committee’s enforcement of the subpoena and the prosecution of Mr. Bannon for failing to participate in a deposition was factually and procedurally invalid. As such, this Court should conclude that the entire prosecutorial process against the applicant was tainted and must be dismissed as a matter of law.
Loudermilk and the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight are investigating the numerous security failures leading up to and on January 6, 2021, and reviewing the creation, operation, and results of the January 6 Select Committee.
“Over the past year and a half, my Subcommittee has uncovered concerning misconduct by the Democrats’ former January 6 Select Committee. They suppressed evidence, deleted key files, and intentionally misled Congress and the American people all in an effort to protect a preconceived narrative,” Loudermilk said in a statement.
“The Select Committee failed to comply with the rules governing its own procedures. Therefore, the prosecution of Mr. Bannon for failing to appear for a deposition is invalid, as is any criminal prosecution. My amicus brief will hold the Select Committee accountable and nullify their deeply flawed work conducted outside the bounds of legitimacy,” Loudermilk added.
AFL Vice President Dan Epstein added that the indictment of Bannon “lacks a legal foundation” as the select committee’s violations of House Rules and Regulations “invalidates their formal actions against individuals.”
“The Supreme Court should take note of Chairman Loudermilk’s arguments to grant the emergency stay Bannon has requested,” Epstein added.
If the Supreme Court does not decide to grant his appeal, Bannon must self-report to the Federal Correctional Institution Danbury in Danbury, Connecticut July 1.
FCI Danbury is designated as a low security prison which houses about 1,068 inmates, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Stephen Bannon” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
