The contempt case versus Steve Bannon is now in the jury’s fingers, just after the govt completed its rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument.
Prosecutor Amanda Vaughn commenced the rebuttal by telling the jury, “The defendant needs to make this challenging, tough, and perplexing. They want you to wonder, ‘What am I lacking?'”
“You are not lacking just about anything,” Vaughn stated. “There were being two witnesses for the reason that it is really as straightforward as it seems … as obvious as black and white” on paper, she claimed.
She stated Bannon did explain to the committee he would not comply with the subpoena, but “that is not a negotiation.” She stated the committee continuously told Bannon that it turned down his statements and that he had to comply, but Bannon is now defending his actions by saying he experienced raised objections at the time.
“That is like a little one continuing to argue with their guardian right after they’ve been grounded. They know they’ve been grounded, they can argue all they want it would not modify the simple fact that the final decision has been produced,” she stated. In this case, she said, the committee made the decision and has the authority to do so.
“This is not a miscalculation,” Vaughn claimed of Bannon’s actions. “It can be a alternative, it is contempt, and it is a criminal offense.”
She then pushed again on the defense’s argument that Bannon’s noncompliance can not be “willful” due to the fact the committee did not pursue other options or get the make a difference to a courtroom, as if the committee “experienced some sort of obligation” to go to court and “get their permission,” she explained.
“Which is like expressing the referee on a soccer discipline cannot make calls on performs until they go over to the baseball diamond next door and get the umpire’s impression first,” Vaughn said. “The committee will not solution to previous President Trump” — it really is a various department of governing administration, she mentioned.
As for Bannon’s new “no damage, no foul” argument that he is now inclined to testify publicly after Trump despatched a letter stating he would waive executive privilege, Vaughn explained, “That’s not what the proof in this circumstance displays.”
“That unexpected decision to comply is nothing at all but a ploy. And it is not even a fantastic a person, due to the fact the defendant forgot to explain to the committee he would offer them with files,” Vaughn stated. Bannon is “pretending to comply now,” she explained, and “it truly is a squander of everyone’s time.”
“The committee explained to the defendant a lot of situations that defiance is a criminal offense, but he failed to pay attention for the reason that he did not care. He experienced contempt for them and the general public assistance they’re hoping to perform,” Vaughn mentioned.
“He is responsible,” she concluded.
At the conclusion of closing arguments, the decide produced the just one alternate juror remaining, leaving the 12 jurors to start out deliberations.
