Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Donald Trump, has been defiant as he pushed his way through the crowd of journalists who waited for him outside the FBI headquarters in Washington. He went there on Monday to turn himself in after being accused of contempt of the United States Congress for failing to appear before the commission investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Bannon declared loud and clear before agreeing that he was going to “bring down the Biden regime.”

After his appearance, the judge did not consider it necessary for him to remain in detention and they allowed him to leave with certain conditions, such as the delivery of his passport and having to appear twice a week before the authorities until the trial begins. Bannon was very combative in his statements to the press after his departure from the FBI building and called the whole process a farce that will end up exploding in the face of Nancy Pelosi, the president of the House of Representatives who started the investigation committee. According to reporters who were able to attend the hearing, Bannon behaved very differently inside the FBI building, with a calm and respectful tone.

The former architect of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign made himself available to federal authorities this morning after he was criminally indicted late Friday on two counts of contempt: one for refusing to appear to testify before Congress and the other. for refusing to provide documents in response to the subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack by a mob of former President Trump supporters.

Bannon, 67, launched a message before turning himself in to justice through his online program WarRoom, in which he asked his followers to be “vigilant.” “I don’t want anyone to be distracted from what we do every day, is that clear?”, Declared the radical. “I want you to stand firm in the message,” he added looking at the camera. “Thank you very much,” he concluded and then entered the federal building.

The indictment against Bannon is a landmark. It is the first time someone has been held in contempt of Congress by invoking executive privilege, which protects the president’s communications with his team. Although the difference is that in previous cases the testimony of defendants about their service in the Government was demanded, but Bannon left his job in the White House in 2017, well before the period that the House committee is investigating.

The drastic measure taken by the Justice Department to indict him would result, if convicted, in fines of between $ 100 and $ 1,000 and up to one year in prison for each count. The decision came after weeks of deliberation by attorneys from the United States Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, who will oversee the criminal case.

Bannon is a key figure in the rise of America’s populist right. He was part of the management team of the news website Breitbart News, which he himself defined as “a platform of the alternative right”, a movement of the extreme right and white nationalism that helped bring Trump to the White House. He was on the board of Cambridge Analytica, the shady company implicated in the Facebook data collection scandal for election purposes, which deployed its controversial techniques in the UK Brexit campaign and the 2016 Republican campaign in which Trump competed against Hillary Clinton. In May of that year, he was appointed head of the then candidate’s campaign and, when he arrived at the White House, he was promoted to chief strategist of his Administration. After several disagreements with Trump, Bannon was fired in August 2017. But he never stopped influencing the former president. Proof of this, consider the Democrats in Congress, are his communications with the president a week before the events of January 6.

On the eve of the assault on Capitol Bannon made statements that could prove that he was aware of what was going to happen that January 6 in Washington, when in Congress the victory of President Joe Biden was certified. In its podcast WarRoom, the far-rightist told his audience: “Hell will break loose tomorrow.” Donald Trump pardoned Bannon, who had been accused of alleged fraud, on the last day of his presidency.

Follow all the international information at Facebook and Twitter, o en our weekly newsletter.