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Bannon said he prefers to testify in a public hearing.

Today, former White House Chief Strategist for the Trump administration, Steve Bannon, informed the January 6 Committee that he would be willing to testify about his role in the events of the January 6 2021 Insurrection. Bannon currently faces criminal contempt charges for disregarding a Congressional subpoena, which he said previously was due to former President Donald Trump enacting executive privilege to withhold his testimony. This claim has been largely dismissed by federal prosecutors. According to Bannon, though, he received a letter from Trump waiving his executive privilege.

“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump’s letter, which was obtained by The Guardian, reads. “Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly.”

While federal prosecutors have said that they are willing to hear Bannon’s testimony, they have stressed that his testifying now would not exonerate him from his contempt charges. Additionally, if the Committee is willing to hear from him, it would likely be in a private deposition rather than a public hearing.

Steve Bannon tells the January 6 select committee he is now willing to testify, ideally at a public hearing, a letter obtained by CNN says https://t.co/mLB3urdaGB

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 10, 2022

“This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered, and you can’t do that in a live format,” California representative and Committee member Zoe Lofgren told CNN.