WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol said it would convene a business meeting on Tuesday to vote on adopting a contempt report against Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump.
The committee said on Thursday that Bannon had declined to cooperate with its investigation.
“The Select Committee will not tolerate defiance of our subpoenas, so we must move forward with proceedings to refer Mr. Bannon for criminal contempt,” the committee’s Democratic chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said in a statement.
“All witnesses are required to provide the information they possess so the Committee can get to the facts,” Thompson said.
An attorney for Bannon could not be reached immediately for comment.
The subpoena to Bannon is one of more than a dozen issued by the Democratic-led Select Committee, with some depositions scheduled as soon as this week. It was not immediately clear whether former aides to Donald Trump would appear after the Republican former president urged them to refuse to cooperate, citing executive privilege.
Thompson dismissed that argument. “Mr. Bannon has declined to cooperate with the Select Committee and is instead hiding behind the former President’s insufficient, blanket, and vague statements regarding privileges he has purported to invoke. We reject his position entirely.”
Throngs of Trump supporters forced their way into the seat of the U.S. government on Jan. 6, as Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election.
The attack forced Pence, lawmakers, staff and journalists to flee, and delayed certification of the election result for several hours. Four people died that day, one shot to death by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
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