Steve Bannon warns Jan. 6 committee staffers 'there's going to be a real committee,' hours after contempt conviction

• Steve Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday.

• He accused the Jan. 6 committee of broadcasting lies and said Republicans needed their own committee.

• "I would tell the Jan. 6 staff right now: preserve your documents because there's going to be a real committee," he said.

Steve Bannon lashed out at the House January 6 committee hours after being found guilty of contempt of Congress on Friday.

Speaking to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Bannon warned committee staffers that Republicans would have their own committee if they returned to power.

"We have to have a real January 6 committee, including to get to the staffers now and see about the lies and misrepresentations they put on the national television to defame people," Bannon said.

"I would tell the Jan. 6 staff right now: preserve your documents because there's going to be a real committee, and this is going to be backed by Republican grassroots voters to say we want to get to the bottom of this for the good of the nation."

The Trump ally said that Republicans need to take offensive action if they take back the House in the midterm elections.

"We have to really govern, and I mean govern on offense. Every committee in the House needs to be an oversight committee. We have to go after the Biden administration, which is illegitimate," Bannon said.

He also praised right-wing activist Darren Beattie, who has promoted the baseless conspiracy theory that the FBI was involved in the attack on the Capitol.

Bannon said a Republican January 6 committee would look at "intelligence failures, FBI involvement, DHS involvement, the intelligence services, what happened to the Pentagon and the National Guard."

Trump allies have baselessly claimed that the former president's requests for National Guard troops ahead of the Capitol attack were rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which has been widely debunked.

Bannon, Trump's former chief White House strategist, was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday for defying a subpoena from the House January 6 committee and failing to provide requested documents.

During his trial, he declined to testify in his own defense or call any witnesses to the stand. He, at one point, accused the House committee members of lacking the "guts" to testify against him.

Each count of contempt of Congress carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail.

Speaking on Fox News, Bannon said that he had a "long appeals process ahead of him" but said he was not worried if he had to go to jail.

On Friday, January 6 committee members hailed the ruling as a "victory for the rule of law."

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