Embattled former White House strategist Steve Bannon has struck a deal to be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and will avoid appearing before a grand jury, sources close to Mr. Bannon told CNN on Wednesday.
The sources said Mr. Bannon is expected to cooperate, but they did not reveal when the interview will occur.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Mr. Bannon had been subpoenaed by Mr. Mueller’s team to testify before a grand jury in the Justice Department’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Also on Tuesday, Mr. Bannon testified before the House Intelligence Committee but refused to answer a broad array of queries about his time working for President Trump, leading the committee chairman to authorize a subpoena.
Committee members afterward said that Mr. Bannon didn’t specifically assert executive privilege to avoid answering questions, but rather suggested that some of the lines of inquiry brushed up against the concept that legally protects the president’s conversations.
The committee developments brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what Mr. Bannon tells Congress about his time in Trump’s inner circle, and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue.
Midday on Wednesday, committee members were still waiting to hear whether Mr. Bannon would return on Thursday for follow-up questions, Bloomberg reported.
Bannon’s fall
Sources told CNN reported that Mr. Bannon is expected to talk openly to Mr. Mueller’s team because executive privilege would not apply when he speaks with the special counsel.
The focus on Mr. Bannon follows his fall from power after being quoted in a book saying that he sees one of the president’s sons, Donald Jr., and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.
In Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” Mr. Bannon accuses Mr. Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
After the book’s release, Mr. Trump quickly disavowed “Sloppy Steve Bannon” and argued there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Bannon apologized a few days later but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump website Breitbart News.
Mr. Bannon had largely avoided the scrutiny of congressional investigators, who instead focused much of their energy on trying to secure interviews with witnesses such as Mr. Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
On Wednesday, influential House Intelligence Republican committee member, Rep. Trey Gowdy blasted Mr. Bannon for speaking with the press — including authors like Mr. Wolff — but refusing to answer the committee’s questions.
“I am frustrated whenever people assert privileges that do not exist,” Mr. Gowdy told Fox News. “And I am really frustrated when witnesses have all the time in the world to talk to the media on- and off-the-record and they can help people write books, but they can’t talk to the representatives that are elected by their fellow citizens.”
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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