The House Jan. 6 committee’s highly publicized hearings have colored jury selection for former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon‘s contempt of Congress trial that opened Monday with his lawyers wading through a sea of jury candidates tainted by news media coverage of the panel’s probe.
The overwhelmingly liberal constituency in Washington has long put conservative defendants at a disadvantage when they stand trial in the nation’s capital, a dynamic that’s potentially amplified for Mr. Bannon by news coverage of the Jan. 6 committee and the Capitol riot.
Out of dozens of potential jurors interviewed in the courtroom, roughly three said they were not aware of the House Jan.