Bannon contempt trial: After guilty verdict, Bannon rips Jan. 6 committee members

Prosecutor Molly Gaston began closing arguments by telling the jury, "This case is not complicated, but it is important."

"This is simply a case about a man -- that man, Steve Bannon -- who didn't show up," she said. "Why didn't he show up? He didn't show up because he did not want to, because he did not want to provide the Jan. 6 committee with documents, he did not want to answers its questions, and when it really comes down to it, he did not want to recognize Congress' authority or play by the government's rules."

"So why is this case important?" Gaston said. "It is important because our government only works if people show up. It only works if people play by the rules. And it only works if people are held accountable when they do not. And in this case, when the defendant deliberately chose to defy a congressional subpoena, that was a crime."

Calling Jan. 6 "a dark day in our nation's history" that included "violence against law enforcement" and efforts to disrupt the "peaceful transfer of power," Gaston said Congress created the Jan. 6 committee to "make sense of it" and to "make sure that it never happens again."

Regarding the subpoena that the committee sent Bannon, she said, "This document is not hard to understand. It tells the defendant what he is required to do, and when he is required to do it."

"The defendant did not produce a single document," Gaston said. "Was that a mistake? No, that was intentional."

She recited the back-and-forth correspondence between Bannon's then-lawyer, Robert Costello, and the committee, in which Bannon claimed that executive privilege "completely exempted him" and the committee repeatedly said that it "rejected" that claim and warned Bannon that he could face prosecution for contempt of Congress.

She noted that the privilege that Bannon claimed "could not possibly cover everything" that the committee was asking for, and that Bannon "made clear" in a social media post that "he was defying the committee to -- quote -- 'stand with Trump.'"

"This is the defendant celebrating his defiance," Gaston said. "And this shows the defendant knew that the subpoena required him to produce documents."

"This was not a mistake," Gaston said, telling the jury "he ignored" the subpoena.

Closing arguments are underway, after Judge Nichols gave the jury instructions for deliberations.

Regarding Bannon's decision not to testify in the case, Nichols specifically told the jury: "You must not hold this decision against him, and it would be improper to speculate as to the reasons."

"You must not assume the defendant is guilty because he chose not to testify," the judge said.

The government will first make its closing argument, then the defense will make its closing argument, followed by a shorter rebuttal by the government.

As court resumed Friday morning for expected closing arguments, Bannon's defense team filed a "notice" to Judge Carl Nichols expressing concern over last night's prime-time Jan. 6 committee hearing and its "possible impact on the jury," calling a segment in the hearing "highly inflammatory."

The notice says that last night's hearing "included a feature segment on the Defendant Stephen K. Bannon of a particularly inflammatory nature." It's referring to audio of Bannon that was played at about 10:38 p.m. ET in which Bannon can be heard days before the 2020 presidential election saying that even if Trump loses the election, "Trump will declare victory," and there will be a "firestorm."

Bannon's defense team asked the judge to ask jurors whether they watched or heard about that segment, or the hearing in general.

"[T]here should be some inquiry, while assuring the jurors of the importance of candor and that they will not suffer negative consequences if they acknowledge exposure to the broadcast or its subject," the team's filing said.

"The nature and substance of the segment present a significant cause for concern regarding possible prejudice to Mr. Bannon's constitutional fair trial rights and right to a jury trial if a juror viewed the segment of was made aware of it in some manner," it said.

The jury has been brought into the courtroom for today's proceedings, and so far there has been no mention of the defense team's latest filing.

News coverage of the Jan. 6 committee has been an ongoing concern for both the defense team and prosecutors throughout this case. At the request of prosecutors, Judge Nichols reminded the jury not to watch or read about last night's hearing before he sent the jury home last night.

Leaving the courthouse after the day in court, Bannon told reporters that -- despite his decision not to testify in his trial on the advice of counsel -- he has no compunction about testifying.

"Make sure everybody understands, of any person in the Trump administration, Stephen K. Bannon has testified," Bannon said, referring to his earlier testimony as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe and a parallel investigation by the House Intelligence Committee at the time.

"Thirty hours in the Mueller Commission ... 20 hours in front of the House Intelligence Committee ... I think over 50 hours of testimony," Bannon said.

"Every single time, more than anybody else in the Trump administration," he said.

-Laura Romero and Soo Rin Kim