Seems like at least some reporters read Marcy Wheeler's tweet thread where she reminded them that Justin Clark, Trump's own lawyer, testified last month that Trump never claimed executive privilege for Stevie Two Shirts Bannon -- so there was nothing to waive. Via CNN:
"Steve Bannon's trial is set to begin one week from today so prosecutors are accusing Steve Bannon and his legal team of trying every trick in the book to change the optics of this criminal contempt of Congress charge," CNN legal analyst Jessica Schneider said this morning.
"They're saying that really he's about to face the consequences, so now he's really throwing anything against the wall to see what sticks. And the prosecutors here are saying that you can't cure a criminal contempt of Congress charge by later agreeing to comply. They say that doesn't fix it. and furthermore, they're saying Bannon hasn't complied fully.
"He's now saying that he will testify, but he hasn't turned over all of the documents that were requested in the subpoena. So prosecutors are putting it this way, writing this, they're saying that 'defendant apparently has not told the committee he wishes to provide documents responsive to the subpoena, so his 11th hour efforts do nothing to cure his failure to produce records. Instead, his continued failure to comply with the subpoena's document demand, while claiming he now will testify, suggests his actions are little more than an attempt to change the optics of his contempt on the eve of trial, not an actual effort at compliance.'
"In addition to this, the filing here, there's also this revelation that Trump attorney Justin Clark actually is now saying that the Trump legal team never told Steve Bannon that he should claim executive privilege. They're saying that the president himself, the former president, never told him that he was invoking executive privilege. They put it this way, saying the defendant's attorney, the president's counsel made it clear that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance. So they're saying here steve bannon should have complied in some way, but yet he did not."
