January 6th Committee drops the hammer on Jason Miller, John Eastman, and Michael Flynn
The January 6th Committee has just subpoenaed a number of Trump goons including Jason Miller, John Eastman, and Michael Flynn. The pundits will all race to insist that no one will comply with these subpoenas because they all saw that Steve Bannon “got away with it.”
But back in the real world, the Steve Bannon criminal referral is a huge deal. It ensures that Bannon will ultimately end up criminally indicted and facing prison time, a fate that other Trump goons are hoping to avoid.
For instance, immediately after the Bannon referral, Trump DOJ stooge Jeffrey Clark agreed to show up and testify. He then tried to invoke privilege during his testimony, a reminder that wearing down these types always comes in increments. But the Bannon referral is clearly having an impact, and at least some of these latest subpoena recipients will end up caving because they don’t want to have to deal with a federal criminal referral against them.
The fact that Steve Bannon hasn’t yet been indicted or arrested is of little relevance. These subpoena recipients all have lawyers who will explain to them that Bannon is indeed screwed, and he hasn’t magically “gotten away with it all” just because the DOJ isn’t moving as rapidly as Twitter pundits are demanding.
So we’ll see which of these latest subpoenaed Trump stooges caves first, out of fear of a criminal referral. Flynn is a self destructive crackpot, so it’s difficult to imagine him being smart enough to comply. Miller has been extremely loyal to Trump, but also seems likely to cave under the fear of criminal prosecution. Eastman, who recently tried to claim he didn’t agree with his own insurrection memo, is a wildcard.
