While Donald Trump’s former chief strategist is testifying behind closed doors in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, it appears he’s already been served with a request for another closed-door session.
Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
This isn’t a nice chat at Bannon’s office with a pre-agreed scope. This is a deposition in front of the grand jury. Although if Bannon agrees to appear, it’s possible that Mueller will spare Bannon the full grilling in front of the jury and turn this into more of a standard interview—for now.
The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. The special counsel’s office has used subpoenas before to seek information on Mr. Trump’s associates and their possible ties to Russia or other foreign governments.
Bannon’s recent statements in which he called the Trump Tower meeting “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” could lead to questioning around just how much Bannon knew about that meeting and how much it, and any follow-up, was discussed within the campaign. Bannon’s comments, which also included suggestions on how any meeting with the Russians should be done, might also lead to inquiries about how much he helped the Trump campaign clean up and hide its communications.
But whether he appears in front of the jury or in Mueller’s offices, we’re going to have to wait to see Steve Bannon crack like an egg in public.
Putting Bannon on the stand right now would allow Mueller to discover if this is more than just a hunch.
Bannon ... believed the Russians would probably have been introduced to Donald Trump.
“The chance that Don Jr did not walk these jumos up to his father’s office on the 26th floor is zero,” he said.
And allow him to fill in his own knowledge about Russian contacts. It’s known that Bannon received emails about discussions between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador—the same conversations that supposedly got Flynn fired. How much discussion Bannon had about these meetings, before or after, isn’t clear.