Bannon was charged with "contempt of Congress", and the "political actuary" miscalculated

Original title: Bannon was charged with "contempt of Congress", and the "political actuary" miscalculated
▲ on October 19, the special committee of the house of representatives of the US Congress voted for the arrest of benon, a former senior strategic adviser to trump, for criminal contempt. Video / Beijing News
According to CCTV, on October 19 local time, the special committee of the U.S. House of representatives responsible for investigating the "riots in the U.S. Capitol on January 6" unanimously voted for the arrest of Steve Bannon, the then senior strategic adviser to U.S. President trump, for criminal contempt. Earlier, the special committee of the US House of Representatives accused him of "contempt for Congress" and issued a subpoena asking four senior officials during Trump's administration, including Stephen Bannon, to provide written documents and testify in court. But this time Bannon disobeyed the summons and refused to testify in court. Bannon, known as the "master" of the White House, was once one of Trump's closest allies and was notorious for concocting a "new cold war" with China. Will he be sent to prison this time for "contempt of Congress"? The maximum penalty is imprisonment for one year and a fine of 100000. Contempt of Congress is a criminal offence. It sounds serious, but it is a misdemeanor criminal offence. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for one year and a fine of 100000 US dollars. The last accused was also Barr, an important cabinet member during Trump's period and attorney general. He was accused in 2019 for refusing to hand over the full version of special prosecutor Muller's report to Congress. However, Barr was not sent to prison or fined. He did not turn his face and resign until trump lost the election at the end of 2020. This is not surprising. In the history of the United States, most of the charges of "contempt of Congress" will not be settled because the lawsuit is too difficult to fight. According to relevant procedures, the house of Representatives can file charges without a full vote, but whether to take legal action requires a vote. Even if the house of Representatives voted to take legal action to refer cases to the prosecutor's office, prosecutors are usually cautious. The most typical case occurred in 1983. At that time, the U.S. House of Representatives ruled that Rita ravel, an EPA official, despised Congress and gave false testimony by a unanimous vote of yes and no, and then the case was prosecuted. Finally, the court only found her guilty of perjury, but "contempt of Congress" was not established. Rita ravel is the only person jailed for "contempt of Congress" in the past 42 years. Bannon's case may be different, probably because "contempt of Congress" is nothing, so Bannon dares to ignore Congress. However, this time Bannon, the "political actuary", may miscalculate. Because the Congressional riots on January 6, 2021 involved more than contempt of Congress. "The crime of contempt of Congress" is, in the final analysis, the criminal name of safeguarding the dignity of Congress. To a certain extent, it is the result of the struggle between the U.S. government and the U.S. House. There are political disputes in it, which brings a lot of flexibility to the "contempt of Congress" in justice. The Congressional riots were defined by the Democratic Party as treason and involved human lives, killing at least four policemen. In other words, there is a larger net waiting for Bannon behind the crime of contempt of Congress. For example, the Commission of inquiry found that Bannon knew "a lot of information" about the riots on January 6 in advance. On the other hand, although Bannon has a good reputation, he is actually an "abandoned son" in politics. The Congressional riot investigation committee, which includes two Republican members, also voted in favour of making charges, which has proved this.
▲ on August 20, 2020, Bannon was arrested on suspicion of fraud: raising $25 million in the name of wall construction. Video / Beijing News
The case also involves trump
The Bannon case also involved trump. Representative Liz Cheney, vice chairman of the Commission of inquiry, said that for those who participated in the attack on January 6, the violence on that day was a direct response to trump's appeal, that is, trump was the one who won the election. Cheney went on to say that the arguments of trump and Bannon showed that "trump personally participated in the planning and Implementation on January 6." of course, the procedure will be longer and the game will be more complex when the Bannon case involves trump. Perhaps in August 2017, Bannon was fired by trump and built a firewall for trump. After all, at that time, they turned their faces very disgracefully. According to the political book fire and anger, Bannon once expressed deep dissatisfaction with Trump's eldest son, trump Jr., and his son-in-law Kushner's secret meeting with a Russian lawyer in the trump building, believing that it was treason and "should be reported to the FBI". Bannon also ridiculed Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka as "stupid as a brick". The exposure of this book is an important reason why Bannon was fired by trump in August 2017. After trump turned against Bannon, he insulted Bannon with his usual style on twitter, nicknamed Bannon a "sloppy ghost", saying that Bannon had "cried and begged him to keep his job" and "was a dog abandoned by almost everyone". It is reasonable to say that when they get to this point, they will "make friends". But the day before trump left office, he pardoned 73 people, including Bannon. At that time, he was arrested on charges of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of the U.S. - Mexico border wall to pay for personal consumption. Bannon also argued that he was actually doing this to "stop the construction of the wall" - as can be seen from his boldness. When talking about Trump's possible involvement in congressional riots, Cheney said, "we will trace it to the end". With the mid-term election in 2022 approaching, the investigation of congressional riots, it is bound to set off a bone to meat fight in American politics, Bannon may not be the only one involved. Special contributor: Xu Lifan (columnist) editor: Xu Qiuying proofreader: Liu Jun