![Steve Bannon says he's willing to testify before Jan. 6 committee](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/12/07/afa7f5b6-a7b8-4d4c-8db4-2a9f8ff32510/thumbnail/1200x630/4023af5b854945f3b2c1d443727e5f98/steve-bannon-ap21319748516685.jpg)
Steve Bannon says he's willing to testify before Jan. 6 committee
CBSN
Washington — Steve Bannon, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol that he is willing to testify, an about-face after he refused to comply with the panel's subpoena late last year and was indicted after defying the demand.
Robert Costello, an attorney for Bannon, told committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson in a letter Saturday that the former White House chief strategist "is willing to, indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing."
"While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his convictions, circumstances have now changed," Costello wrote in the letter obtained by CBS News. Bannon's lawyer said that while former President Donald Trump invoked executive privilege over his testimony and documents, the former president "has decided that it would be in the best interests of the American people to waive executive privilege for" Bannon, allowing him to comply with the select committee's subpoena.
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More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
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In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
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The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.