Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is in for a busy time next week.
While his former boss’s lawyers are urging their client to refuse an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller for fear that the president might accidentally perjure himself, Bannon is finally meeting with the special counsel and the House Intel Committee next week, according to PBS and CNN.
According to PBS’s anonymous sources, Bannon is planning to tell investigators “everything he knows.
That’s according to two people familiar with Bannon’s interview. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about details of the interview.
One of the people says Bannon plans to tell Mueller “everything” he knows.
Bannon is expected to face questions about key events during his time in the White House, including Trump’s firings of former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey.
The confirmation of Bannon’s meeting with Mueller comes as Bannon’s closed-door interview set for Tuesday with the House intelligence committee was postponed.
Bannon was initially scheduled to meet with the House Intel Committee today, but his legal team asked for a postponement, CNN reported. However, the committee has decided to allow him another week to appear in person and answer their questions – though this isn’t the first time Bannon, who was subpoenaed by the committee, has bailed on a scheduled meeting to the Intel committee, much to members’ chagrin.
The House Intelligence Committee confirmed Tuesday it was giving Bannon another week to comply with its subpoena.
“The House Intelligence Committee’s interview with Stephen Bannon has been postponed at the Committee’s initiative until next week,” Emily Hytha, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican running the committee’s Russia probe, said in a statement. “We look forward to having him before the Committee once we can assure that he will be able to thoroughly answer all our questions without concerns regarding the scope of executive privilege.”
This is not the first time the committee has pushed back its subpoena as it has negotiated with Bannon over answering questions about the transition and his time in the White House, which he did not answer when he was interviewed last month.
Bannon famously refused to answer certain questions about his time in the White House during a previous meeting with the Intel Committee in January, invoking executive privilege to avoid providing details about his interactions with the president. This controversial move angered committee members, including some Republicans.
Mike Conaway, the nominal leader of the Intel Committee’s probe since Devin Nunes recused himself, told reporters Monday evening he expected Bannon to comply with the subpoena demands of the committee and was unaware of any deal to limit the answers he would provide to the panel.
Mueller’s push to interview senior administration officials – including the president – has been widely interpreted as a sign that his investigation is nearing its conclusion.
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