VIVA FREI: Bannon found guilty in 'kangaroo court'

On the Friday episode of The Trial of Steve Bannon, host Viva Frei said it was "a kangaroo court, kabuki theater show trial" that led to Bannon's conviction on his contempt of Congress charges.

"Steve Bannon effectively had his legs cut out from under him from day one," Frei said as he articulated that the problem in Bannon's trial wasn't the outcome, it was the "process."

Viva Frei, who is a lawyer by trade, broke down how Bannon had three defenses that failed him.

The first, Viva Frei claims, was Bannon's attempt at claiming executive privilege. The January 6th committee has sought out the communications of nearly everyone who was close to the President at the time of the Capitol riot. As a result, the committee sent out a subpoena looking to uncover communications between Bannon and Trump in the lead up to the events of January 6th.

Bannon refused to comply with the initial subpoena on the grounds of executive privilege and subsequently was charged with contempt. Last week, Trump issued a letter to Bannon stating that he was free to testify before the committee. Bannon said he was being truthful in why there would be delays in turning over any Trump communication, but for the court it was too little too late.

As Bannon said on Friday night's episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight the trial's "narrow cast" definition on the issue of privilege didn't help his defense.

Frei's second point was the legality of the committee to begin with, noting "even though it only has nine members and not 13 as it is required to have, even though it only has nine members, two of which were not named by the Republican Party, but hand selected by Nancy Pelosi herself" it was allowed to stand as a legitimate committee.

Frei's final point was that Bannon was denied a "professional reliance defense" which is a carryover mostly from tax law that states whatever Bannon and Trump said to each other is legal because it falls under the spectrum of normal professional business the two conducted together.

In the end, Frei claims that Bannon didn't raise a legitimate defense and instead "relied only on the fact, or the hope, that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bannon is guilty."

According to Frie, the prosecution concluded, "Bannon is a man who thumbed his nose at the law" and "made a mockery of the authority" of the January 6th committee. The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning a guilty verdict.

Frei poked at the self-serious nature of the January 6th hearings, claiming that the severity of January 6th has been exaggerated. "According to some people on the political spectrum, it's on par with Pearl Harbor and 911," Frie said, "And I've got to say anybody who makes that comparison is a disgrace and makes a mockery of those two historical atrocities by comparing them to the events of January 6."

Bannon is currently facing a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail and is set to be sentenced on October 21st.