Steve Bannon’s team announced that they will not put on a defense in his trial where the former President Trump aide is charged for contempt of Congress.
This means that it’s possible that jury deliberations will begin today.
But there are other procedural steps and pending motions that the judge and the parties still have to work through before the proceedings reach that point.
Now that US District Judge Carl Nichols has called a recess, he has instructed the parties to do a final round of discussions about the jury instructions, and they’ll then submit their views to the judge.
When the proceedings resume at 1 p.m. ET, the parties will discuss — without the jury present — what the defense team will get to tell the jury about Bannon’s decision to not testify as well as the lack of testimony from Chair Bennie Thompson or other lawmakers who Bannon’s team attempted to subpoena for trial.
There is also a pending motion related to Bannon’s efforts to get lawmaker testimony at the trial that will be debated then too.
After that point, the proceedings may be at a point to give the jury their instructions and for the parties to deliver their closing arguments. Jury deliberations would be the next step after that.
Some trials have entire mornings or afternoons dedicated to closing arguments. But this trial was short, with only two witnesses. And opening statements took fewer than 40 minutes in total, meaning the closings could be relatively brief as well.
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