The prosecution rested its case on Wednesday against Steve Bannon after just two witnesses: a congressional staffer and an FBI agent.
Bannon, facing a charge of contempt of Congress for not complying with a House Jan. 6 Selection Committee subpoena, is on trial this week. Bannon has argued he could not testify before the committee until former President Donald Trump waived his executive privilege.
"The president had not formally or informally invoked the privilege, even if you accept the premise that the privilege applied," Kristin Amerling, chief counsel for the committee, testified Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
The Bannon defense team asserted that Amerling has personal ties to the chief prosecutor of Bannon's case, Molly Gaston.
"So you're in a book club with the prosecutor in this case?" Bannon lawyer Evan Corcoran asked Amerling, who responded "yes" and acknowledged that they "would talk about politics."
The other prosecution witness was FBI Special Agent Stephen Hart, who had a conversation with Bannon's past lawyer about the subpoena.
It was Hart's testimony that caused a most "restrained" Bannon to become "more animated, laughing at one answer, then shaking his head in apparent exasperation over testimony," according to the Post.
In opening statements this week, Corcoran told the jury that the charges were politically motivated and Bannon had been engaged in good-faith negotiations with the committee when he was charged.
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