By Glynn Wilson –
So we ran former White House strategist Steve Bannon out of Alabama last year when he came to town to try and help the radical, right-wing conservative Republican former judge and alleged teen sexual molester Roy Moore in his race against Birmingham attorney and Democrat Doug Jones for the U.S. Senate. After Jones won, he was fired by the right-wing fake news site Breitbart News. Now he’s running from a subpoena to testify before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
House members, including the Republicans, want Bannon to testify under oath on what he knows about the collusion of President Donald Trump, his family members and others who worked for his campaign with Russia, which clearly sought to influence the presidential election in Trump’s favor and to discredit his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The mainstream media and Facebook share some of the blame for this for helping spread Trump’s message and fake news all over the airwaves and the social media landscape.
Bannon appeared before the committee on Jan. 16, but failed to satisfy some members since he refused to answer questions about his time as a campaign adviser and White House staff member, claiming any information he has from dealing with the president falls under the doctrine of “executive privilege.”
Senior Republican committee member Mike Conaway told reporters on Monday that he expected Bannon to comply with the subpoena and answer questions on Tuesday. But news organizations are citing two unnamed sources familiar with the situation saying he would not appear, which could expose Bannon to a charge of contempt of Congress.
Bannon could not be reached for comment.
One of the sources said the Trump White House had not authorized Bannon to answer committee questions, meaning the president may also be in contempt, although it is doubtful the Republicans on the committee will hold him accountable. Sources indicate the White House and the Intelligence Committee have not resolved the question of whether executive privilege could apply in Bannonâs case.
The House Intelligence Committee is one of three congressional committees, along with the Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating the allegations of Russian interference, although none of them are actually asking or trying to answer the question of whether that influence actually changed the outcome of the election.
The president has said and tweeted that he would be happy to appear under oath to testify before special counsel Mueller, but his lawyers are now advising against such an interview, dragging the investigation out indefinitely.
A source said Bannon will appear next week to answer Muellerâs questions.
Of course Russian President Vladimir Putin denies meddling in the election, even though it has been widely reported by every intelligence agency and news organization in the U.S., and Trump has denied any collusion himself with Russian spies and hackers in his election victory.
But it has become crystal clear that Trump’s entire financial empire â the casinos, the hotels, the real estate â has been propped up for many years as a money laundering operation for the Russian mob. Clearly the Trump crime family is now running a criminal enterprise out of the White House. How much longer do we have to endure this before the FBI issues an arrest warrant or Congress brings up impeachment charges or the people show up in sufficient numbers to surround the White House and demand his resignation?
Now that his State of the Union claims about how great the stock market and the economy are doing has been proven as a fraud, since the market has been crashing for the past four days and many analysts are predicting the end of the bull market, will the big money crowd finally start abandoning Trump and demand an end to his run in this sick, perverted reality show?
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