Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from the DC federal courthouse (IRL!) where Steve Bannon is expected to make his first post-indictment court appearance on contempt of Congress charges at around 1:45pm. Spotted: significant media presence + one giant inflatable Trump rat

Bannon will be making his first court appearance before Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather — dial-in info attached for live audio. I'm in the media room, where we have a video feed. Bannon's lawyers are in there now at counsel table

The DC courthouse is enforcing social distancing, so the media room and the courtroom are sparsely populated compared to pre-pandemic high-profile hearings. Much less of a media circus vibe compared to years past (121 people on the public line as of now, by comparison)

US Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather is on the bench for Steve Bannon’s initial court appearance

Bannon just came into the courtroom from the back area and sat down at the defense counsel table. Appearing with Bannon today are David Schoen (who you may remember from Trump’s legal team for impeachment trial #2) and Matthew Corcoran

Bannon stands up to be sworn in and then sits back down. Appears to be wearing the same multi-layered shirt/jacket situation as from when he surrendered this morning

After some back and forth, Meriweather says they'll skip doing the arraignment today, which means it'll likely happen during his next appearance before the district judge assigned to the case going forward, Judge Carl Nichols

Bannon is due to appear next before Nichols on Nov. 18 for a status update on the case (and now, presumably, an arraignment)

The govt isn't seeking pretrial detention for Bannon and isn't asking for special release conditions beyond what's rec'd by the Pretrial Services Agency — standard supervision, no passports, advance notice for domestic travel and court approval to go outside the continental US

Bannon will have to report in weekly by telephone, judge says he's already surrendered his passport

What else we can see in the courtroom: So far during the hearing, the judge and Bannon have been unmasked (judges here have discretion to allow participants to be unmasked), defense lawyers and prosecutors and everyone else in the courtroom is masked

Throughout the pandemic the courtrooms have been equipped with clear partitions around the counsel tables and where the judge/court staff sit

And that's a wrap, a typically short and uneventful initial appearance (there are usually only fireworks if there's a fight over pretrial detention). Bannon is due to appear next before Judge Carl Nichols on Nov. 18, but it'll be a virtual hearing

Outside the courthouse, Steve Bannon vows to go on the "offense" to fight the charges and defends his decision to defy the Jan. 6 committee based on Trump asserting exec privilege + advice of counsel: "This is gonna be the misdemeanor from hell"

Bannon's lawyer David Schoen acknowledges that the validity of Trump's exec privilege assertion is being litigated, but argued Bannon at the time he was subpoenaed had an obligation to honor it

Note that a criminal contempt prosecution is different from a civil suit seeking to enforce a congressional subpoena (a la the Don McGahn case) — even if Bannon is convicted in the end, it doesn't mean he'll be forced to testify/produce documents