Democratic Rep. Raskin Threatens Steve Bannon With Jail: ‘He’s Completely Exposed’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) raised the prospect on Monday that Steve Bannon would be sentenced to jail if he refused to testify before the House committee investigating Jan 6.

MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian, who was filling in for Stephanie Ruhle, noted in a morning interview with Raskin that Bannon was refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena on the basis of executive privilege, which empowers presidential staffers to defy Congress. Bannon left the White House in August 2017, more than three years before January’s unrest in Washington, D.C.

“He wasn’t working for the executive branch,” Raskin observed. “So even if you assume hypothetically that Donald Trump has some kind of executive privilege, which is extremely dubious in itself, how could that extend to Steve Bannon? So he’s completely exposed.”

He also recalled the case of Susan McDougal, who was convicted in 1996 of fraud and conspiracy for her role in the Whitewater scandal that engulfed former President Bill Clinton. The former president pardoned McDougal before he left office in 2001, but not before she spent 18 months in jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury about Clinton’s role in the affair.

“Remember, Susan McDougal spent 18 months in jail because she refused to participate in the Whitewater investigation when she was under subpoena,” Raskin added. “Does the law only apply against Democrats? I don’t think so.”

Several people faced an Oct. 7 deadline to produce documents under a subpoena issued by the committee, including Bannon, A deadline for several people subpoenaed by the committee, including Bannon, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and former Pentagon Chief of Staff Kashyap Patel. The four men have an Oct. 15 deadline to comply with a deposition.

Watch above via MSNBC.