Justice Department: Steve Bannon is making his prosecution for refusing to testify a 'public spectacle'

Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, is facing contempt charges for refusing to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has accused him of trying to make the matter into a "public spectacle."

Garland has also complained about Bannon's legal team performing "frivolous" legal actions, and of using other filibustering tactics in order to stall the progress of the case.

According to the Daily Mail, Bannon insists that the principle of "executive privilege" applies, and that he doesn't have to divulge any details of his conversations with the then-President Donald Trump. He further asserts that the investigation is motivated by politics and not justice.

Bannon was the first person charged in the course of the Jan. 6 committee's investigations into the events leading up to and surrounding the storming of the Capitol on that same day.

Bannon turned himself in to the FBI on Nov. 15 2021. He pleaded not guilty on Nov. 17 2021, to charges of defying the subpoena issued by the committee  after having been indicted for two counts of contempt of Congress,

"The defense's misleading claims, failure to confer, unexplained wholesale opposition, and extrajudicial statements make clear the defense's real purpose: to abuse criminal discovery to try this case in the media rather than in court," wrote US Attorney Amanda Vaughn.

Bannon himself, on his own part, stated to multiple reporters:

"This is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden."

"Joe Biden ordered Merrick Garland to prosecute me from the White House lawn when he got off Marine One, and we're going to go on the offence. We're tired of playing defense."