Former US President Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon will ask a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges alleging he wilfully defied a subpoena by a congressional committee investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
Evan Corcoran, one of Bannon's defence team, yesterday notified US District Judge Carl Nichols of his plans to seek to have the charges dismissed, shortly after the prosecution rested its case.
Mr Bannon, aged 68, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanour counts of contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoena requesting testimony and documents as part of its inquiry into Capitol riot by Trump supporters trying to overturn his election defeat.
It is unclear whether Mr Bannon's team will put on a defence or call any witnesses.
A possible witness could include Robert Costello, Mr Bannon's solicitor who served as the key point of contact between Mr Bannon and the committee after it served him with its September 2021 subpoena.
The government only presented two witnesses in its case over two days of testimony.
The first was Kristin Amerling, a senior committee staff member, who testified that Mr Bannon disregarded the subpoena's two deadlines, sought no extensions and offered an invalid rationale for his defiance - a claim by Mr Trump involving a legal doctrine called "executive privilege" that can keep certain presidential communications confidential.
The other prosecution witness was FBI special agent Stephen Hart, who investigated the circumstances of Mr Bannon's defiance of the subpoena.
The judge yesterday let the defence inform jurors that Mr Trump earlier this month gave the green light for Mr Bannon to testify before the House of Representatives select committee after previously asking him not to cooperate.
The judge also allowed him to introduce other recent correspondence between Mr Bannon and the committee related to Mr Bannon's abrupt offer to testify.
But Mr Nichols told jurors they cannot consider Mr Bannon's belief about executive privilege as an excuse or consider future offers of compliance as a defence against prior non-compliance.
Mr Bannon's primary defence is that he believed the subpoena's return dates were flexible and subject to negotiation between his attorney and the committee.
Ms Amerling testified on Wednesday that the deadlines were not flexible and said mR Costello had never sought any extensions on his client's behalf.
Mr Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol and attacked police in a failed effort to block formal congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, which Mr Trump falsely claims was the result of fraud.
Mr Bannon was a key adviser to Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, then served briefly as his chief White House strategist in 2017.
