In the run-up to a trial sometime next year, Bannon’s lawyers plan to seek evidence from the White House and Justice Department that includes “documents reflecting the decision to charge Mr. Bannon,” according to the court filing.

The latest filing shows that federal prosecutors want to speed that up as much as possible, aiming to put Bannon on trial as early as April. That’s just six months from his Nov. 12 indictment, which would make the case a lightning-fast prosecution. Although the DOJ did not say so in its filing Monday night, the legislators who kickstarted this process have made clear they want to make an example out of Bannon to show that witnesses will be punished for defying congressional subpoenas…

Meanwhile, Bannon’s lawyers say they are seeking to push the trial to October 2022—perhaps not coincidentally mere days before the midterm elections. That would fit snugly with Bannon’s overarching goal to politicize his case, or as he put it last month, turn it into the “misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden.”

Former prosecutors and law school professors closely watching the case have already made clear that Bannon’s legal strategy appears to be to blow up the whole system.