A leaked audio file of Steve Bannon saying that Trump would declare himself the winner of the 2020 election, was played by the Jan 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney as the month’s final hearing head to a close.

In the audio file dated October 21, 2020, Bannon, who was the chief strategist for the Trump administration stated that Trump would declare himself the winner of the election, “…what Trump’s going to do, is just declare victory.” 

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“But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner. He’s just going to say he’s a winner,” says Bannon laughing in the leaked audio clip, first reported by investigative news organisation Mother Jones. 

In the leaked audio, Bannon claims that “more of our people [Republicans] vote early that count” and that since many Democrats use mail-in voting, they end up “having a natural disadvantage.” He goes on to say that Trump would leverage that disadvantage, as “that’s our advantage.” The first clip ends with Bannon saying that when people “wake up  Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm.” 

“Wednesday morning” refers to the November 4 press conference called by former president Donald Trump at 2:30 am where he claimed that there was on going “fraud on the American public” and that “Frankly, we did win this election.”

In the second audio clip, Bannon said that if Trump is losing, “it’s going to be even crazier.” He goes on to say that the former president would claim that “they stole it.”

  Also Read: Jan 6 hearings: Steve Bannon seeks acquittal in contempt of Congress case

The former chief strategist has been facing a contempt of Congress case for his refusal to cooperate with the House committee that is investigating the Jan 6 attack on Capitol Hill. On July 21, 2022, Bannon’s team of lawyers rested their case after they announced that they would not be calling any witnesses nor would their client testify in his own defense. Closing arguments by the prosecutors and the defense will be heard on July 22, 2022 after which a jury will go into deliberations to determine a verdict.