Judging Freedom - Steve Bannon SUBPOENAS Nancy Pelosi

Episode Date: June 8, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, June 8, 2022. It's about 3.30, 3.35 in the east coast of the United States. Late yesterday afternoon, two U.S. Marshals showed up at the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and served her with a subpoena. Now, this doesn't normally happen, and ordinarily they can't get into her inner sanctum, but because they're U.S. Marshals, the security guards let them in. What is this all about? Well, you may recall that President Trump's former campaign manager, and even after he was elected president, senior political advisor Steve Bannon has been indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C. for his refusal to cooperate with a subpoena from the

January 6th committee. Listen, I know Steve Bannon, and I know a lot of these people like Peter Navarro who have been indicted for refusing to cooperate, and I don't have much sympathy for them. They should have followed the lead of Roger Stone and Alex Jones, who also received these subpoenas. They acknowledged the subpoena, meaning their lawyer told the lawyer for the committee, yes, we got it, arranged a convenient time, showed up, and didn't answer anything, just pleaded the fifth. By doing that, they preserved their integrity, they preserved their privacy, and they preserved their freedom because they can't be indicted for silence, but you can be indicted for ignoring a lawful subpoena. That's what Steve Bannon was indicted for. Now, why was Mrs. Pelosi subpoenaed. You can't make this up. She's being subpoenaed as a defense witness in behalf

of Bannon. Now, God only knows, because his trial's coming up in a couple of weeks, God only knows what his lawyers want to ask her. My guess is they want to try and undermine the legal authority of the committee. I don't think a trial judge will permit that, because another trial judge in the same courthouse, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, by the way, has already ruled that the committee is a legitimate committee of Congress, and that ruling's been upheld by a federal appeals court. The issue, though, is an interesting one. Can a member of the House of Representatives be subpoenaed and forced to justify and explain his or her words on the floor of the House, his or her votes, his or her thinking? Constitution, something called the Speech or Debate Clause. And it basically says, members of Congress shall not be compelled to answer in any forum for what they do in Congress, what they say in Congress, nor may they be interfered with on their way to Congress or

on their way home from Congress. Now, why is that in there? That's in there because British kings, who didn't like the way certain members of parliament voted, would have them arrested and jailed and even tortured until they revealed whatever the king wanted to hear. So James Madison, when he drafted the Constitution, aware of what had happened in England and not wanting it to happen here, put that clause in there. That is probably the easier way for Mrs. Pelosi's lawyers to get the subpoena quashed if she's going to get it quashed. And by the way, she is not the only one that Bannon subpoenaed. Bannon's a character, and I almost don't blame her for doing this. His lawyers subpoenaed the entire January 6th committee. Mrs. Pelosi's not on the committee. She's the Speaker of the House who appointed the committee.

So we'll see where all this goes. It could make for a lot of drama if the subpoenas are not quashed. And even if the subpoenas are quashed and Steve Bannon takes the stand, you could sell tickets for that and they'll go around the block. Federal courts don't permit television. They don't even permit still photographs. They're still back in 100 years ago. They only permit sketch artists. But there'll be plenty of reporters there running outside telling us what's happening. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.