It is now perfectly clear why Steve Bannon chose to face felony criminal contempt charges over being questioned by the Select Committee.
Media Matters reviewed tapes from Bannon’s podcast in the days before January 6th. The tapes prove that Bannon knew of a secret plan, he knew it would be historic, nasty, a “fight,” and that they needed as many people there as possible.
The “mix” in tapes skips forward and backward (in days) surely to most emphasize the most damning material near the top.
There is no point in engaging in a pre-analysis except for the fact that the reader is invited to keep in mind that all of this, all of it, was available to law enforcement and intelligence. Yet the lack of extra protection is not only damning but must have put agencies on alert that some Capitol Police could easily be killed on January 5th, and they chose not to come.
This is Bannon with … to indicate skips in the tape. Actual tape below:
It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. It is going to be quite different, extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in. The war room, a posse. YOU have made this happen, and tomorrow it is Game Day.
President Trump’s first term is ending with action, and the second term is going to begin with a BANG. That, we guarantee you…
… And so the fight’s [on]. This is a huge weekend. There is going to be so much going on behind the scenes, a massive fight. We’re heading toward the sixth of “June” (he clearly means January, there was no rally June 6th.)
There’s a lot happening this week. People getting revved up, people are getting fired up. People and I are getting madder, as they should.
You and I happened to be on a call last night, it was so brilliant, to go through the framework of this week.
(This was January 5th and anticipating the fight to go to Congress with Pence gone. Remember, Pence refused to get into a Secret Service SUV deep below the Capitol, fearing a Secret Service conspiracy.
…“[T]here are a lot of tough hombres down there and I saw some of them when we had meetings down there… They were all still reviewing their plans for the day. Like one or two in the morning. I think the people are jacked up…
They are all going to converge on January the 6th. We just have to impose our will on the opposition.
The two paragraphs above are likely the most consequential. In those two paragraphs, it is believed that Bannon admits that they anticipate a coup.
We are hurtling toward something that’s going to be complicated and it’s going to be nasty. Nothing could be more turbulent than what’s going to happen this week….
… You’ve got to be there, this is going to be historic, remember this is like how the Republic fell, right? And became a totalitarian, authoritarian empire. We’re at that moment.
Are we going to affirm the massive landslide or Donald Trump or are we going to return the constitutional republic to the “forces…”
“… People don’t see the calls, we’re skyping around, to see through the fog of war, we need to have clarity, that January 6th “was” going to be that day…”
Briefly, it sounds as though he is speaking after the fact, “was.” Instead, it is simply alerting the audience as to what day they’ve picked to move on their plan.
“… or one of these big days, January 6th was going to be that day and you had to converge everything down to January 6th.
“… This is a wound that will not heal, we are hurtling toward a constitutional crisis that is going to make the impeachment (first one) look like a Sunday picnic…
“This is going to be a historic day, it is going to be part of history. We want as many people to get on it as possible. 48 Hours away…”
With Giuliani
“… 48 hours away from… [indecipherable, Rudy buts in] consequential days in American History.”
And so there it is, an explanation as to why Bannon would risk one year in jail on criminal contempt of Congress over testifying. The questions posed to him would require an answer claiming the 5th Amendment and questions could be framed to get information even by claiming the 5th. “Can you share what President Trump knew anything that would be historic?”
“Upon the advice of counsel, I choose to invoke my 5th Amendment right to…”
The other thing that now requires immediate action are subpoenas to the then director of the Secret Service, FBI, NSA, CIA, certain military officers in the Pentagon and DOJ. Americans were under the impression that these agencies existed to protect and defend the constitution of the United States.
Please never forget Steve Bannon on January 5th, 2021… pic.twitter.com/rIERrbi7qW
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 13, 2021
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