Judge warns against Bannon trial becoming ‘political circus’

The federal judge presiding over the contempt of Congress case against Stephen Bannon warned the defense team on Wednesday against trying to bring politics into the trial.

In the midst of the first witness testimony of the trial, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said Bannon’s lawyers could not cross-examine anyone on the stand in a way that would suggest the case against him is politically motivated.

“I do not intend for this to become a political case, a political circus, a forum for partisan politics,” Nichols, a Trump appointee, said Wednesday morning.

The jury was not in the courtroom for the judge’s ruling.

Nichols’s warning was prompted when prosecutors raised concerns Tuesday morning after Evan Corcoran, one of Bannon’s defense attorneys, asked jurors in his opening statement the day before to consider whether the evidence against his client is “affected by politics.”

Amanda Vaughn, an assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case, said she was concerned the defense team was “trying to find ways around” Nichols’s previous orders precluding Bannon from trying to mount such a defense.

Vaughn had raised an objection during Corcoran’s opening statement Tuesday when he made the remark about politics, leading the parties to have a sidebar with Nichols out of earshot of the jurors or public observers.

Nichols ruled on Wednesday that Bannon’s lawyers can question witnesses on the stand about whether they have their own personal biases, but not about the potential biases of lawmakers who authorized the Jan. 6 Select Committee subpoena to Bannon or voted in favor of holding him in contempt for refusing to comply with it.

“I will police that line the best I can,” Nichols said.

The court began hearing from the prosecutors’ first witness, select committee chief counsel Kristin Amerling, on Tuesday, which continued Wednesday morning.

They have said they expect to call just one other witness, FBI Special Agent Stephen Hart.