WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) – A lawyer for Steve Bannon is looking for to withdraw from representing the adviser to former President Donald Trump in his authorized contempt case, citing the potential for being often called as a witness at trial, a courtroom docket doc on Friday confirmed .
Bannon was charged closing 12 months with two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by a House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Bannon has refused to produce testimony or paperwork, citing Trump’s declare – rejected by completely different courts – that the material is protected beneath a approved doctrine often called authorities privilege.
Bannon, who has pleaded not accountable, has to date didn’t get his July 18 trial dismissed or delayed. US District Resolve Carl Nichols has scheduled a listening to inside the case on Monday.
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The resolve in April blocked Bannon’s attempt to inform jurors that he relied on suggestion from authorized professionals when he defied the congressional subpoena, an argument generally called the “suggestion of counsel” safety. be taught additional
His lawyer Robert Costello, inside the courtroom docket submitting on Friday, talked about he served as “Bannon’s sole basis of particulars concerning the particulars and the regulation relating to this matter” and that whereas he could operate his authorized skilled sooner than the trial it appeared a lot much less clear that he could characterize Bannon as quickly as proceedings began.
“As a result of it appears there could be a trial, and since plainly right now restrict I is maybe often called as a witness, I’ve to reluctantly ask the Courtroom to grant my request” asking to withdraw as trial counsel, Robert Costello wrote in a submitting with the US District Courtroom for the District of Columbia.
Bannon, a distinguished decide in right-wing media circles, was an architect of Trump’s 2016 presidential victory and served as White House chief strategist in 2017.
He was moreover charged in 2020 with conspiring to defraud donors as part of a private fundraising advertising marketing campaign promising to assemble Trump’s wall on the US-Mexico border. His case was dropped after Trump pardoned him in his closing hours in office in January 2021. be taught additional
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Reporting by Susan Heavey Modifying by Mark Heinrich
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