House Begins Effort to Reverse Jan. 6 Subpoenas, Would Protect Some Trump Supporters from Prison
Could Steve Bannon and other top advisers to former President Donald Trump be saved from frivolous prison sentences over refusing to testify before the Democrats’ kangaroo committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion?
If one House GOP resolution succeeds, it might be a reality.
According to The Post Millennial, several top Republicans — led by Reps. Eric Burlison of Missouri and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — have introduced a resolution that would rescind the subpoenas issued by the committee to Bannon, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, economic adviser Peter Navarro and deputy communications chief of staff and adviser Dan Scavino.
The resolution, introduced Tuesday, came just before Bannon begins serving a four-month sentence for defying the subpoena on July 1. The logic is simple: no subpoena, no contempt of Congress, no crime, no jail time.
“It is past time for the House of Representatives to take action to begin undoing the harm that was caused by the illegitimate January 6th Committee,” Burlison said in a news release.
“This is the right thing to do, and I hope all members of the House will join me in this effort,” the congressman said.
“The Committee was nothing more than a political witch hunt to blame President Trump and his advisors for the events that took place on January 6, 2021, and influence the 2022 mid-term elections and 2024 presidential election,” he said.
“The Committee was legally deficient in its composition and was more focused on producing made-for-TV hearings than following House rules,” Burlison said. “The subpoenas that were issued were legally insufficient and should be rescinded, and the contempt of Congress referrals based on those subpoenas should be withdrawn. This is the right thing to do, and I hope all members of the House will join me in this effort.”
In the same news release, Massie said that an official vote on the resolution would be “an effective and needed repudiation of the sham January 6th committee.”
The official text of the resolution states that “it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was illegitimate, that the conclusions and findings presented were predetermined due to the committee’s partisan nature, and that the courts should set aside any convictions or commute any sentences stemming from contempt reports issued by the Select Committee.”
Furthermore, the resolution would move to rescind “the subpoenas issued by the January 6th Select Committee on September 23, 2021, October 6, 2021, and February 9, 2022, and withdrawing the recommendations finding Stephen K. Bannon, Mark Randall Meadows, Daniel Scavino, Jr., and Peter K. Navarro in contempt of Congress.”
Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said she “fully support[s] and am co-sponsoring Rep. Thomas Massie’s resolution to rescind the subpoenas for Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro by repudiating Nancy Pelosi’s illegitimate J6 committee.”
“Nancy Pelosi violated House rules by refusing to accept McCarthy’s appointed Republicans on the committee. Now, our Republican-led House must nullify any actions taken by the illegitimate J6 committee,” she said.
“We must also hold the J6 Committee members accountable for the destruction of the committee’s records. House Republicans need to start taking action!”
The resolution is also co-sponsored by GOP Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Bobert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Jim Banks of Indiana, Chip Roy of Texas and Bob Good of Virginia, among others.
While the move is a step in the right direction, it’s unknown whether it’ll go anywhere — and it does nothing to remedy the overcharging of those who entered the Capitol during the Jan. 6 incursion.
In many cases, nonviolent individuals have received “terrorism enhancements” to their charges — including, according to Breitbart, the son of Brent Bozell III, founder of the conservative Media Research Center.
While there were a minority of dangerous individuals in the Capitol that day, most were simply protesters-turned-chaos-tourists who posed no danger to person, property or democracy.
That hasn’t stopped the Democrats from treating them as if they were just a few steps removed from Timothy McVeigh.
This resolution is a fantastic start. However, instead of just focusing on the high-profile defendants, House Republicans need to start holding Democrats and a rigged system accountable for draconian, politically motivated charges and punishments.
Then, maybe it’s time we start holding Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden’s other cronies accountable, as well.
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