Bannon strikes deal, will talk to Russia probe
WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, has agreed to answer questions from prosecutors on the Russian election meddling investigation, it was reported on Wednesday.
Bannon was going to be legally forced to testify before a grand jury, but has now reportedly struck a deal where he’ll be interviewed by investigators led by Robert Mueller, the special counsel tasked with probing Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US election.
The reported agreement means he’ll be able to answer questions in a less daunting setting but suggests he’s willing to give details about his time in the White House.
Reports emerged on Tuesday that Bannon had been subpoenaed by the investigation into Russian election meddling, a legal device to force someone to give testimony.
The move had been viewed as a tactic to persuade Bannon, who was at the heart of the Trump administration for several months, to give evidence.
It also suggests that Mueller’s investigation is a long way from reaching a conclusion, despite White House claims to the contrary.
Separately, Bannon appeared before the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee on Tuesday behind closed doors on the same topic, but refused to answer a range of queries about his time working for the president.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, denied suggestions that the Trump administration had encouraged Bannon not to be transparent during questioning.
The Associated Press reported that Bannon’s attorney relayed questions, in real time, to the White House during the hearing.
As lawmakers probed Bannon, his attorney, Bill Burck, was asking the White House counsel’s office by phone during the Tuesday session whether his client could answer the questions.
He was told by that office not to discuss his work on the transition or in the White House.
It’s unclear who Burck was communicating with in the White House.
Huckabee Sanders said it was a typical process.
“Sometimes they actually have a White House attorney present in the room,” she said. “This time it was something that was relayed via phone, and again, was following standard procedure for an instance like this ... ”
In a separate development, Buzzfeed News reported that Mueller’s team is investigating newly uncovered payments between the Russian government and figures within the U.S.
The alleged transactions include US$120,000 sent to Sergey Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador to the U.S. and one of those at the centre of the investigation, 10 days after the election.