Steve Bannon claims he didn’t “willfully” commit a crime in defying

Washington – Steven Bannon, the former chief White House strategist for Donald Trump who has been charged with criminal contempt of Congress, issued a court filing Friday that argues he’s not guilty because he was heeding the advice of his lawyers and did not know he was committing a crime.

The charges stem from his refusal to testify and provide documents to the House committee investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. His lawyers advised him not to show up for his interview with congressional staff or turn over the requested material because former President Trump wanted to claim executive privilege. On January 6, 2021, Bannon was not employed by the White House — and hadn’t been since 2017.

“Reliance on advice of counsel fundamentally negates guilt,” defense attorneys wrote Friday, offering a potential preview of their arguments for Bannon’s defense at trial, which is currently set for July. 

The government’s attorneys have sought to exclude material related to this line of reasoning from the case because they say Bannon’s lawyers gave him “erroneous” legal advice, and his decision to heed it does not exonerate him.

The House voted in October to hold Bannon in contempt after his refusal to appear before the committee and turn over documents and referred the matter to the Justice Department. Bannon was then indicted in November by a federal grand jury for criminal contempt of Congress for his failure to comply with the subpoenas.

Prosecutors say Bannon received “erroneous” legal advice to defy the subpoenas and have asked the federal judge overseeing Bannon’s case to prevent him from defending his inaction by claiming his attorney and Trump’s told him not to comply. 

Costello’s legal advice was flawed, prosecutors stated in court filings, so Bannon’s failure to comply, based on that advice, broke the law. 

Bannon’s “purported reliance on his counsel’s erroneous advice otherwise is no defense to the crime charged,” prosecutors wrote. Therefore, they added, arguments and evidence in support of that should not be allowed in Bannon’s trial.

“The deliberate failure to comply with a congressional subpoena—regardless of motivation—constitutes the crime of contempt.”

But Bannon’s attorneys argue the legal guidance was “sound” and the defense is valid. 

“Mr. Costello advised Mr. Bannon that he did not have the ability to waive executive privilege and he did not have the ability to discern what documents or communications were privileged, since that authority belonged to former President Trump,” Friday’s filing asserts, so the decision was not a willful violation of law, but an action taken at the direction of counsel.

They also allege Bannon’s attorney engaged with both the House select committee and federal prosecutors to argue his client did not intend to break the law, but follow the advice of his attorneys and those of former President Trump. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. does not comment beyond statements made in court filings and hearings. 

Multiple federal courts including the Supreme Court have since rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege, ruling that executive…