Jury selection will begin for the trial of Steve Bannon, an advisor to former President Trump, Associated Press reports. Bannon is charged by federal prosecutors for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee as it seeks records and testimony. In November, Bannon was indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. Recently Bannon announced that he would be willing to testify to the committee after Trump waived his executive privilege claim, which would have blocked Bannon from testimony.
Trump has tried to invoke executive privilege several times as a former president in order to prevent witness testimony and the release of documents. In January, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s efforts to prevent the National Archives from cooperating with court proceedings. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols declined motions to delay Bannon's trial. Bannon's attorneys were concerned about a CNN story about their client. The judge assured Bannon’s lawyers that he would find an unbiased jury. The claim that executive privilege stopped Bannon from cooperating may be difficult to argue because he refused to answer the subpoena.
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