Bannon forces House Intelligence Committee’s hand

Panel subpoenas former White House chief strategist

WASHINGTON >> Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump, provoking a subpoena from the panel’s Republican chairman.

The development brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what the former adviser tells Congress about his time in Trump’s inner circle and whether Republicans would force the issue in light of the newly issued subpoena from the GOPcontrolled panel.

The congressional subpoena came the same day The New York Times reported that Bannon — a former far-right media executive and recently scorned political adversary of the president’s — has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before a federal grand jury.

With the issuance of Mueller’s subpoena, Bannon became the highestranking person who served in the Trump White House to be called before a grand jury as part of the special counsel’s investigation.

Congressional officials declined to say whether Bannon disclosed Mueller’s subpoena during an all-day, closed-door interview with members of the House committee.

The members grilled Bannon as part of the committee’s investigation into Russian election inference. Lawmakers also wanted answers from him about Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

But Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, prompting the committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, to issue the subpoena, said Nunes spokesman Jack Langer.

“This was effectively a gag order by the White House,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, of California.