Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon plans to ‘fully cooperate’ with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, according to Axios, after frustrating lawmakers by invoking executive privilege on Capitol Hill.
‘Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,’ a source familiar with the situation told the Daily Beast.
On Tuesday, when Bannon appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, he told lawmakers in the closed-door meetings that President Trump had invoked executive privilege and thus he could not disclose details about his time working on the Trump transition team nor in the White House.
President Trump’s former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will be more forthcoming with investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller than he was with lawmakers yesterday when he claimed executive privilege and refused to answer their questions
He was served a subpoena on the spot, which was signed by Rep. Devin Nunes, the committee’s top Republican, who has recused himself from the Russia probe, according to details from NBC News.
Even so, Bannon still refused to answer questions during his 11 hours on the Hill.
‘He quickly informed, through his counsel, the committee he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, etc., that took place wither during the transition or while he was part of the administration,’ said Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat. ‘And, what’s more, we would later learn that would be extended to even after he left the White House.’
Rep. Mike Conway, the Republican lawmaker now leading the probe, told NBC the committee expects further testimony from Bannon after talking to the White House about what members of Congress on both sides of the aisle viewed as an overly-broad executive privilege claim.
It was a rare joint effort by committee members, as the House’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been plagued by partisan infighting.
‘If the White House is permitted to maintain that kind of a gag rule on a witness, no Congressional investigation could ever be effective,’ Schiff pointed out. ‘So this obviously can’t stand.’
Mueller is expected to have better luck as his probe, which started out as the FBI’s effort to look into Russian interference and any collusion with the Trump campaign, fits under the umbrella of the executive branch.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Bannon was subpoenaed by Mueller last week to testify before a grand jury, with FBI agents coming to his house, NBC News said.
Experts told the newspaper that the subpoena signaled a number of things, including that Bannon is likely not the target of the Russia investigation, because Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena a probe’s targets only in rare cases, the Times noted.
Mueller’s tactic could also be used as a negotiating tool, allowing Bannon to speak to investigators in a closed-door setting and not in front of a grand jury, as long as he agrees to talk.
This is the first time Mueller has used a grand jury subpoena on a member of the president’s inner circle.
It was prompted by comments Bannon made to Michael Wolff in the author’s new book ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.’
In the tome, Bannon calls Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a group of Russians ‘treasonous’ and ‘unpatriotic’ and speculates that Trump’s son likely took the group to meet the GOP presidential hopeful while at Trump Tower.
Bannon’s quotes took a toll on his relationship with the president, who nicknamed him ‘Sloppy Steve’ and publicly lashed out of him, and poisoned his position at Breitbart News.
He resigned from the right-wing news site last week, after returning to its helm in August after his eight-month White House stint.
Bannon could be interviewed by Mueller’s team by the end of the month, NBC News learned.