Thread by @Teri_Kanefield

" . . . the speaker will send to the DOJ, and the statute says they have a duty to present to a grand jury. So he will be prosecuted."

They'd never get the truth out of him anyway. He'd lie to Congress.

I wonder if Bannon wants to be a martyr and a right-wing hero.

Basically Bannon will go to jail because he's clinging to the theory that Trump won and Bannon has to obey Trump's directions not to testify.

Look how Trump glorifies Ashli Babbit. I wonder if Bannon wants some of that.

Because the committee has opted for criminal referral, it appears the process will be the usual criminal procedure:
The House makes a criminal referral.
The DOJ convenes a grand jury and makes the case.
A grand jury returns an indictment.
The defendant is arraigned. . .

As explained by @BarbMcQuade, a civil remedy would be quicker, with the goal of securing compliance (he could have been jailed until he complied)

This takes longer, but the goal is to punish, not secure compliance.

I am not sure why people feel that they're fighting the clock with Bannon's testimony.

Likely the committee doesn't even need his testimony, and they can draw inferences from his silence. They probably have copies of whatever documents he has . . .

Do people have the idea that unless Bannon talks, the committee can't move forward?

It's an Twitter-invented emergency. The committee is basically done with Bannon. I didn't check the law Schiff quoted, but they're confidence the case will be put before a grand jury. . .

As far as Bannon's defense, he's entitled to put one on, but his defense is totally lame. It's a slam-dunk in the guilty department.

Another Twitter-invented emergency is that the future of democracy depends on whether Bannon testifies . . .

. . . he'd lie anyway, or refuse to answer questions on whatever grounds he'd think up, and getting someone on "lying to congress" is a lot more complicated than prosecuting him for blowing the whole thing off in the first place.

The future of democracy depends on us.

If he isn't talking because he thinks his testimony will incriminate him in another matter, the procedure is that he shows up and then invokes the Fifth Amendment and refuses to answer questions that will incriminate him.

I can't see him doing that.

That's why I suspect at this point that he wants a trial so he can put on, as his "defense" that Trump is the rightful president and can assert executive privilege or some such nonsense.

Trials make good theater, and criminal defendants have a constitutional right to a trial.

A person has a constitutional right to a public trial.

People who shout "Why isn't Trump already in prison!" forget that first he gets a public trial.

It. Will. Be. A. Circus.

(Also, he'll be seen as a victim in the Court of Right-Wing Opinion.)

Remember, autocracy is swift and easy.
Democracy is slow grinding work.

That's why autocracy has a lot of appeal: "We can win and win fast! we can land blows on our enemies! We can blow through those tiresome rules!"

The Trump Org. has been indicted.
Yes, there will be more indictments. Convictions are up to a jury.

No, it will not be enough. Look at people shouting, "Only 45 days in jail for that insurrectionist!")

Here's how I know . . .

There have been lots of "consequences," but people still say "there have been no consequences."

When I start listing the consequences (which gets tiring) the answer is, "Okay, yes, those, but . . ." or "Okay, he spent some time in jail, but . . . "