Steve Bannon Testifying on Live TV Is 'Unlikely,' Zoe Lofgren Says

Steve Bannon's January 6 committee testimony is unlikely to be aired on live TV, said Representative Zoe Lofgren, who sits on the panel investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.

Bannon, who served as a chief strategist to former President Donald Trump, has now agreed to testify before the committee, marking a significant reversal. He previously defied subpoenas, citing executive privilege claimed by Trump. But federal prosecutors had argued that the claim was unfounded, as Bannon left the White House in 2017 and was no longer working for the administration. He is facing two charges of contempt of Congress—for refusing to appear for a deposition and refusing to provide documents to the committee.

His testimony comes at a key point for the committee, which is conducting public hearings on Trump's role in the events on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the states' electoral votes.

As lawmakers continue to hear public testimony, Bannon's testimony probably won't be televised, Lofgren, a California Democrat, said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.

"This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered, and you can't do that in a live format," Lofgren said.

Typically, the committee will depose its witnesses for hours before moving forward with a public hearing.

Even though Bannon's testimony will likely be behind closed doors, Lofgren said, "I expect that we will be hearing from him, and there are many questions that we have for him."

Bannon was among the first Trump-era officials to be called to testify by the committee. It has questions specifically about his communications with Trump in the weeks before the riot. The committee said he allegedly urged the former president on December 20, 2020, to focus his efforts to remain in office on January 6.

The committee has also said that on January 5 Bannon attended a gathering at Washington, D.C.'s Willard Hotel, which served as a command center for efforts to block the congressional certification of state's electoral votes.

In a Saturday letter, Trump waived his executive privilege claim regarding Bannon's testimony. Bannon attorney Robert Costello wrote in a letter to Representative Bennie Thompson, who chairs the committee, that his client is agreeing to testify because "circumstances have now changed," not that he has "had a change of posture or of heart."

On Monday, the Department of Justice said that Bannon is agreeing to testify only out of a "last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability" because the executive privilege claim "never provided a basis for total noncompliance in the first place."

Furthermore, in a motion filed in court Monday, the department said Trump attorney Justin Clark told the FBI in a June 29 interview that the former president "never invoked executive privilege" concerning Bannon.