Moderating:
This may be a good discussion to have, but it is a hijack to the discussion being held in this thread, which is about what the Committee is doing from hearing to hearing. Please start a new thread to have this discussion and feel free to link back to this thread if you wish. Thanks.
Steve Bannon has agreed to testify, because Trump has waived executive privilege (which he had no right to invoke, but ok…)
Which will it be:
(a) He tells the truth and throws Donald under the bus;
(b) He lies and perjures himself;
(c) He pleads the Fifth.
I vote for (b).
I already voted for (c) elsewhere. I think his testimony will be useful to the Committee in the same way Michael Flynn’s was. Cuts of video: “Fifth. Fifth. Fifth. Fifth.”
Hook him up to a lie detector and use the needle for a fan to cool off the Capitol. He’s going to lie his ass off. He’s a true believer white supremist and he’ll gladly perjure himself (knowing a future R president will pardon him) in order to save the Dear Leader.
If he lies, it creates the “dueling narrative” scenario that the MAGAts love. Who do you believe?
The committee never puts someone on live without first having deposed them in private. I don’t see them changing that practice for Bannon. Him taking the Fifth for 100 questions is not going to get him a live session. Ditto if he lies contradicting a bunch of other evidence.
d) He doesn’t testify at all, or his taped/non-public testimony is unhelpful because he lies or takes the 5th, and he never goes live.
This, exactly.
I think Bannon is coming forward because he can’t afford attorneys to continue to fight against the congressional contempt citation. So this is a stalling tactic while he waits to see when if the DOJ charges him for his role in the insurrection.
Meantime, he and Trump get to put on a little play act that Trump has some authority to waive an executive privilege which he a) doesn’t possess, and b) wouldn’t extend to Bannon if it did, since Bannon was not a Trump administration official.
It’s just games. And desperation.
It would make me SO happy if Stevie would throw Donnie under the bus and then drive over the body (metaphorically) several times. Just for sport.
A girl can dream… 
It is fun to dream, isn’t it?
Fortunately for Trump, Bannon has the credibility of a Candygram shark. No case is going to won or lost on the basis of anything he says, I’m pretty sure.
Such things have happened before. As said above, Bannon is a True Believer in all this nonsense, and he latched onto Trump for purely pragmatic reasons - he saw that Trump had the ability to prevail in the election, and he thought he could control Trump well enough to use Trump for his own ends.
That last bit didn’t work out so well, which is why he was pushed out early on.
But if Bannon sees an opportunity to advance his own cause by throwing Trump under the bus, he’ll absolutely do that. The real question is, does he see such an opportunity or not?
Has he been pushing Desantis on his podcast? If so, there’s your answer.
I suppose if there was any doubt on the idea that Trump is going insane, his letter to Bannon just needs different font sizes and colors to come straight out of crazy town:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22082936-president-trump-letter-07092022pdf
I wouldn’t be shocked if he told the truth during the private testimony to get into the public version, then lied there. If they bring up the private testimony, or even show it, he just says “that video is altered; I did not say that” and just repeated the lie over and over.
Did they indicate they were planning on having him testify live?
I’m-- I’m only a dolphin, ma’am.
He’s not a complete idiot. Perjuring himself is pretty serious.
And the committee aren’t idiots either. They’re not likely to give him a soapbox if there’s the slightest chance he’ll turn it into a sideshow.
Even if Mr. Bannon does plead the fifth over and over – or even just on one or two items, could he later be compelled to testify at a criminal hearing as long as he is not charged with any crime? Or if he has been granted immunity? Is any testimony for immunity deal struck beforehand with the final decision belonging to the witness?
I don’t see why that would happen ever for anything.
All that Bannon has done is dodge a contempt citation from the Committee for failing to comply with their subpoena. The Committee referred Bannon’s non-compliance to DOJ for a contempt charge. The DOJ granted the request. Those charges will issue if Bannon does not comply with the Committee’s subpoena by July 17th.
To date, Bannon has not been charged with any crime involving the insurrection on January 6th. I expect that might change soon. If Bannon is granted some consideration in exchange for his testimony, presumably against Trump, DOJ might knock a few years off his sentence. But probably not enough to matter.
I think the Committee has better options for direct testimony to link Trump directly to Oath Keepers/Proud Boys, etc. than Bannon.
I anticipate Bannon’s strategy once DOJ brings charges is to adopt the same one as Trump: Delay for as long as possible and hope something happens that gets him out of the mess. Just my opinion, but I don’t think it will work this time.