Bannon agrees to meet US prosecutors
STEVE BANNON, the former White House chief strategist, has agreed to answer questions from prosecutors on the Russian election meddling investigation, it was reported yesterday
Mr Bannon was going to be legally forced to testify before a grand jury, but has now reportedly struck a deal where he will 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 will be able to answer questions in a less daunting setting but suggests he is willing to give details about his time in the White House.
Reports emerged on Tuesday that Mr 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 Mr Bannon, who was at the heart of the Trump administration for several months, to give evidence.
It also suggests that Mr Mueller’s investigation is a long way from reaching a conclusion, despite the White House’s claims to the contrary. Separately, Mr 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 Mr Bannon not to be transparent during questioning.
In a separate development, Buzzfeed News reported that Mr Mueller’s team is investigating newly uncovered payments between the Russian government and figures within the US. The alleged transactions include $120,000 sent to Sergey Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador to the US and one of those at the centre of the investigation, 10 days after the election.