Down goes Steve Bannon. Now what?

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Now that Steve Bannon has been referred for criminal prosecution, what happens next? Garland is a policy guy, and DOJ policy in any federal criminal case is to bring indictments if and when they feel thereโ€™s an 85-90% chance of conviction.

So if the DOJ feels the case itโ€™s been handed by the House is already enough to get a conviction, things will move fast (relatively speaking). If the DOJ feels it needs to dig deeper for more evidence to prove Bannonโ€™s bad faith toward the subpoena, itโ€™ll take a lot longer.

Ask anyone whoโ€™s ever worked for (or with or against) the DOJ, and theyโ€™ll tell you that the above scenarios are what will play out within the DOJ. Meanwhile, pundits who are just mugging for the TV cameras and Twitter retweets will paint a different, fictional narrative.

The worst of pundits will flood us with tripe about how Garland is hiding under his desk trying to decide whether he has a spine, or whatever superhero / supervillain drama they can invent to boost ratings.

Meanwhile the indictment decision against Steve Bannon will simply come down solely to odds of conviction at trial. Thereโ€™s a reason the Feds sometimes take a long time to bring indictments, and why people who have been federally indicted usually end up cutting a deal. The Feds only indict you if and when theyโ€™ve got you nailed to the wall. That’s as true for Bannon as it is for anyone else. The rest is just pundit-driven noise.

Dear Palmer Report readers: it's Bill Palmer. I'm as sick of Trump as you are. I'm expanding Palmer Report's operations so we can lead the fight against Trump. Click here to donate $25 or $50.