US Capitol riot panel votes to hold Trump ally Bannon in criminal contempt

LAWMAKERS investigating the deadly assault on the US Capitol voted unanimously Tuesday to pursue criminal contempt charges for a key ally of former president Donald Trump for refusing to testify.

Former White House advisor Steve Bannon failed to comply with a subpoena to appear before the cross-party 6 January congressional select committee on Thursday last week.

The right-wing political advisor had told the panel he would be withholding testimony and documents until Trump’s claim of “executive privilege,” which allows presidents to keep certain conversations with aides secret, had been resolved.

But the nine-member committee said Bannon’s position was not a lawful basis to ignore the order and voted unanimously to adopt a report setting out the case against him.

“Mr Bannon has no legal right to ignore the committee’s lawful subpoena,” Representative Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee and one of only two Republican members, said Tuesday during the