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House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that House Republican leaders voted to file an amicus brief in Steve Bannon’s case, just days before the conservative media host is due to report to prison.
Leadership’s move comes amid a flurry of activity in the House to challenge the authority of the Jan. 6 committee established by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2021. Bannon’s four-month prison sentence—for failing to comply with committee subpoenas—is set to start July 1.
Bannon, a retired Navy officer and former executive chairman of Breitbart News, spent seven months as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor in 2017 after helping guide his successful 2016 campaign.
Former Trump administration adviser Peter Navarro is already serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
“The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted 3-2 to file a brief with the D.C. Circuit in the case against Steve Bannon,” Johnson, R-La., said in a joint statement with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. “The amicus brief will be submitted after Bannon files a petition for rehearing en banc and will be in support of neither party. It will withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress.”
“House Republican Leadership continues to believe Speaker Pelosi abused her authority when organizing the Select Committee,” the GOP leaders added.
As she was forming the committee in July 2021, Pelosi rejected then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s choice of Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to serve as the GOP’s representatives on the panel.
As a result of Pelosi’s decision, McCarthy refused to let Republicans participate in the “sham process.” Pelosi opted instead to select then-Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Bannon praised the House’s move, telling Axios: “Speaker Johnson and House leadership showed tremendous courage in repudiating the illegally constituted J6 Committee and its activities/investigations.”
Johnson made two television appearances Tuesday night—on Fox News with Sean Hannity and CNN with Kaitlan Collins—to announce the House GOP’s plans.
“The previous statement of the House, under Speaker Pelosi, was incorrect,” Johnson told CNN. “We do not believe the Jan. 6 special committee was properly constituted. We don’t think it followed the House rules. And now we’re finding, under our own investigation, that they have in fact covered up some evidence. That’s a great concern to a lot of people.”
Earlier Tuesday, Banks sent a letter to Johnson encouraging the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group—made up of the House’s top Republican and Democrat leaders—to intervene.
“The January 6th Committee tossed aside 200 years of congressional precedent, destroyed evidence, and repeatedly broke House Rules to carry out a political vendetta and cover up Nancy Pelosi and never-Trumpers’ responsibility for the security disaster on January 6th,” Banks wrote. “It was a fake investigation, and Republicans should urge the Supreme Court to follow established precedent and throw away its illegitimate subpoenas.”
Please click the link and read @RepJimBanks excellent letter to Speaker Johnson supporting Steve Bannon's call for a BLAG amicus brief to be filed to support Steve at the Supreme Court.https://t.co/LkKH04FdBx pic.twitter.com/DjDn9Hz8TA
— Jeff Clark (@JeffClarkUS) June 25, 2024
Separately, the Daily Caller reported Tuesday that Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., would file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. Loudermilk, chairman of the House Administration oversight subcommittee, also plans a House resolution seeking to invalidate the Jan. 6 committee’s report on Bannon.
Loudermilk specifically pointed to the Jan. 6 committee’s failure to consult with a Republican ranking member of the committee—since one didn’t exist—as a reason to invalidate Bannon’s conviction for criminal contempt of Congress.
In the days leading up to the House’s move, Bannon’s supporters pressured Republican leaders to act. Jeff Clark, a former high-ranking Justice Department official now with the Center for Renewing America, hailed the decision.
“Excellent news for Steve Bannon,” Clark wrote on X. “Prayer works!”
Bannon is awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on an emergency appeal.
The post House GOP Plans Legal Move Against Jan. 6 Committee in Steve Bannon Case appeared first on The Daily Signal.
The House Appropriations Committee moved to block State Department funding for an international nonprofit that accuses Americans and U.S. organizations of being “opponents of Ukraine.”
The move comes one day after Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., sent a letter to top House appropriators asking to end U.S. support for the Ukrainian reporting nonprofit called the DATA Journalism Agency, also known as TEXTY.
The TEXTY list includes 77 organizations and 388 individuals, including former President Donald Trump and 115 Republican House members, it labels enemies of Ukraine. This includes The Heritage Foundation and its president, Kevin Roberts.
“I was just designated an ‘opponent of Ukraine,’ after being sanctioned by the Russian regime,” Banks said in a public statement.
The Russian government sanctioned Banks in April 2022.
Two State Department agencies partnered with the DATA Journalism Agency: the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
During a full committee markup on Wednesday of the fiscal year 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs funding bill, House Republicans on the committee passed a provision to prohibit funding for TEXTY.
“I’m not bothered by what foreign nations think of me. But it’s shameful for our agencies to be using Hoosiers’ tax dollars to collaborate with foreign groups that attempt to intimidate U.S. citizens and lawmakers,” Banks continued. “I’d like to thank the Republicans on the Appropriations Committee for defunding any such work with the DATA Journalism Agency.”
The Banks letter on Tuesday went to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
Like any budget bill, the funding measure has to be approved by the House and a Democrat-controlled Senate before going to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The post House Appropriators Block State Department Money to Organization Calling Americans ‘Opponents of Ukraine’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is urging Congress to prevent the State Department from working with foreign organizations that “encourage the harassment of Americans” after a Ukraine-based outlet listed U.S. organizations and individuals it accused of impeding assistance to Ukraine.
The Heritage Foundation, which founded The Daily Signal in 2014, appears among the organizations on the list, and so does its president, Kevin D. Roberts.
The Ukraine-based media outlet the DATA Journalism Agency, also known as TEXTY, published a report titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists.” The report lists forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it. The list includes 77 organizations and 388 individuals, including former President Donald Trump and 116 Republican House members.
Two State Department agencies partnered with the DATA Journalism Agency, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
“According to the report, the individuals on the list ‘oppose supporting Ukraine,’ and many ‘echo key messages of Russian propaganda aimed at depriving Ukrainians of the ability to defend themselves,’” Banks said in a letter Tuesday. He sent the letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chair Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
Banks added that another Ukrainian organization partnering with the State Department, known as Myrotvorets, also maintained a database of alleged enemies of Ukraine.
“Federal bureaucrats should not support or partner with foreign groups that attempt to intimidate and silence U.S. citizens and lawmakers,” Banks wrote. “I am urging the Appropriations Committee majority to support efforts in the Fiscal Year 2025 SFOPS bill to force the State Department and USAID to end all relations with foreign NGOs like TEXTY that seek to silence the speech of Americans they dislike and to sway U.S. policymakers to serve their own interests.”
Banks also wrote to Roberts Tuesday as well as other individuals and entities that were on the list.
“The Appropriations Committee’s markup of its bill to fund the State Department and USAID during Fiscal Year 2025 is scheduled to take place tomorrow,” Banks added.
The post 2 Groups Accuse Americans of Being Enemies of Ukraine. A House Republican Wants State to Stop Working With Them. appeared first on The Daily Signal.
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