Bannon was on Capitol Hill testifying before the House Intelligence Committee when the news broke that Mueller had issued the subpoena for the now-estranged associate of President Donald Trump to testify before a grand jury.

Bannon's testimony on the Hill on Tuesday was his first appearance before any of the congressional committees investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election or potential coordination with Trump's associates, and it comes just days after the White House broke with Bannon over comments attributed to him disparaging Trump and the Trump family.

Several White House staffers have come forward voluntarily for interviews with the special counsel team. The New York Times, citing a person with direct knowledge, said the grand jury subpoena for Bannon "could be a negotiating tactic" and that Mueller would likely allow Bannon to speak with investigators instead of going before the grand jury.

The subpoena came after Bannon's comments to author Michael Wolff became public, according to The New York Times. In Wolff's book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," Bannon is quoted as saying a June 2016 meeting Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

Bannon also said he assumed Trump Jr. delivered information about the meeting to Trump, despite denials from the two, and downplayed the likelihood of illegal coordination with Russia while saying there was dread that Mueller's investigation could turn up something else nefarious, such as money laundering.

Trump disavowed Bannon, saying his former top aide had "lost his mind," and later nicknamed him "Sloppy Steve." A source close to Bannon subsequently provided a statement saying Bannon expressed regret over the timing of his response to the book and that he thinks Trump Jr. is a "patriot."

Trump appointed Bannon his campaign's chief executive at the outset of the general election, and Bannon, along with now-White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, led the Trump campaign through Election Day. Bannon assumed a top post as chief strategist in the White House after the election and left last August amid a major staff shakeup.</s>Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with county sheriffs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 7, 2017.

Evan Vucci / AP file</s>WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. The special counsel’s office has used subpoenas before to seek information on Mr. Trump’s associates and their possible ties to Russia or other foreign governments.

A second subpoena for Mr. Bannon to testify came from a House panel on Tuesday.

The Mueller subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices about ties between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia and about the president’s conduct in office, according to the person, who would not be named discussing the case. But it was not clear why Mr. Mueller treated Mr. Bannon differently from the dozen administration officials who were interviewed in the final months of last year and were never served with a subpoena.

The subpoena is a sign that Mr. Bannon is not personally the focus of the inquiry. Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena the targets of investigations only in rare circumstances.</s>By Tom Lobianco, Zeke Miller and Chad Day, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon’s attorney relayed questions, in real time, to the White House during a House Intelligence Committee interview of the former Trump chief strategist, people familiar with the closed-door session told The Associated Press.

As lawmakers probed Bannon’s time working for U.S. President Donald Trump, Bannon’s 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 or whether it was top White House lawyer Don McGahn, who Burck is also representing in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.
• Bannon tries to make amends with Trump

The conversations were confirmed by a White House official and a second person familiar with Bannon’s interview. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for Trump, leading the committee chairman to authorize a subpoena.

Lawmakers were expecting a similar fight Wednesday with Trump’s White House as another senior aide, Rick Dearborn, appears for a private interview with committee.

The developments brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what current and former aides tell Congress about their time in Trump’s inner circle, and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue.

It is unlikely the committee will face the same White House objections with Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who is also being interviewed Wednesday. He never served in the White House.

The interview with Lewandowski and Dearborn were confirmed by two people familiar with the committee’s work who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential interviews.

The congressional subpoena came the same day The New York Times reported that Bannon, a former far-right media executive and recently scorned Trump adversary, has been served with a grand jury subpoena issued by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Bannon confirmed that he had received the subpoena from Mueller during his House Intelligence Committee interview, according to a person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss Bannon’s interactions with Mueller.

Bannon is the highest-ranking person who served in the Trump White House to receive a grand jury subpoena. The move by itself doesn’t indicate that Mueller is presenting evidence to the grand jury to support future criminal charges. It could also signal that Mueller is seeking to pressure Bannon to agree to an interview with his investigators.

Lawmakers questioned Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference and sought answers about Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

But Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, and as a result, the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., issued the subpoena, spokesman Jack Langer said.

A White House official said the White House counsel’s office had a conversation last week with committee counsel about Bannon’s testimony and was told the questions were expected to be about the campaign. The official said the White House offered to send an attorney to attend the interview and was told the move wasn’t necessary.

But when the lawmaker’s questions moved to Bannon’s time in the White House, Burck, his attorney who also represents White House counsel Don McGahn, got on the phone with the counsel’s office. The official wouldn’t say who Burck spoke with in the counsel’s office or whether it was his client, McGahn.

A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</s>Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon Tuesday after members said he refused to answer questions about his time in the Trump White House and on the Trump transition team during a roughly ten-hour-long interview behind closed doors.

Later Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News that Bannon had been subpoenaed to appear before Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee’s top Democrat, told reporters Bannon’s counsel conferred with the White House after he was served with the committee subpoena during the interview and told the panel Bannon would still not answer any questions about the transition, administration or any conversations he had with President Trump after leaving the White House last year.

The source familiar with the matter said the White House had instructed Bannon not to answer questions about his time during the transition and the White House unless and until the committee and the White House can reach agreement on the proper scope of questioning in light of executive privilege concerns.

“The scope of this assertion of privilege, if that’s what it is, is breathtaking. It goes well beyond anything that we’ve seen in this investigation,” Schiff said. “This was effectively a gag order by the White House preventing this witness from answering almost any question.”

In a statement to ABC News, Bannon attorney William Burck said, “Executive privilege belongs to the President of the United States. It’s not Mr. Bannon’s right to waive it.”

Earlier Tuesday, when asked whether the White House had told Bannon not to answer certain questions, press secretary Sarah Sanders responded, “No one has encouraged him to be anything but transparent. But there is a process of what that looks like and what that process should go through.”

“Look, we’ve been completely cooperative throughout this entire process. We’re going to continue to be cooperative. But we’re also going to maintain some of the executive privileges here at the White House that have been practiced for decades and that need to be maintained,” Sanders added.

The same source familiar with the matter, while confirming Mueller’s subpoena of Bannon, said that the White House has not placed any restrictions on Bannon’s testimony to Mueller and that he is free to cooperate fully with Mueller’s investigation and answer any questions Mueller’s team poses to him.

Meuller’s office has not responded to a request for comment from ABC News.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., confirmed he signed off on the committee subpoenas. An aide to Nunes said one subpoena is for Bannon’s testimony and another is for documents the aide said Bannon failed to provide to the committee.

Schiff suggested that Bannon refused to answer questions about conversations with Michael Flynn, any conversations in the White House around the time the New York Times first reported on the controversial Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer, and questions regarding any potential obstruction of the Russia investigation.

“Whether he was ever given any instructions that he felt might hinder the Russia investigation is of interest to us, whether he was witness to any actions to obstruct the investigation is of deep interest to us. If he’s precluded from answering any questions during transition or administration and many questions even after he left the White House, obviously we’re not able to do our job,” Schiff said.

Asked what prompted the subpoenas, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, the Republican overseeing the committee’s Russia’s investigation since Nunes recused himself, told reporters “We weren’t getting all the answers that we wanted and so we subpoenaed Mr. Bannon to try to compel answers.”

Bannon was “vociferously defending Trump” behind closed doors, according to a source close to Bannon. “It got heated. He was showing his loyalty to Trump.”

Bannon not only declined to answer questions about his time in the White House and transition but also about transition emails, according to committee members.

“Unfortunately, there were a lot more non-answers than answers to many of the questions,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, told CNN in an interview. “ I think we’ll have to have Steve Bannon back.”

Bannon is one of several Trump campaign aides expected to appear before congressional Russia investigators this week on Capitol Hill. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee later this week.

Tuesday’s interview came after Bannon resigned as executive chairman of Breitbart News following the release of Michael Wolff’s tell-all book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

The book includes harsh comments from Bannon on the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer. Bannon, according to Wolff, called the meeting “treasonous” and “unpatriotic,” but has since retracted his criticism of Donald Trump Jr.’s participation.

In the book, Bannon also suggested Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation would focus on money laundering, something congressional investigators hoped to question him about.</s>Steve Bannon’s lawyer relayed questions in real time to the White House during a House Intelligence Committee interview of the former chief strategist to Donald Trump, according to reports.

As politicians probed Mr Bannon’s time working for Mr Trump, Mr Bannon’s lawyer Bill Burck was asking the White House counsel’s office by phone during the Tuesday session whether his client could answer the questions, the Associated Press claimed.

He was told by that office not to discuss his work on the transition or in the White House.

It was unclear who Mr Burck was communicating with in the White House.

He is also representing top White House lawyer Don McGahn in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the questions were relayed over the phone and 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 and something that will likely happen again on any other number of occasions, not just within this administration but future administrations.”

On Wednesday, the AP also confirmed Mr Bannon will meet with Mr Mueller’s investigators for an interview instead of appearing before a grand jury.

A person familiar with that issue confirmed the interview and said Mr Bannon is expected to cooperate with Mr Mueller.

Mr Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for Mr Trump, leading the Republican committee chairman to authorise a subpoena.

The developments brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what current and former aides tell Congress about their time in Mr Trump’s inner circle, and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue.

The congressional subpoena for Mr Bannon came after the former far-right media executive and recently scorned Trump adviser received a grand jury subpoena issued by Mr Mueller.

That subpoena, first reported by The New York Times, appeared to be a negotiating tactic that then prompted Mr Bannon to agree to sit down with Mr Mueller’s prosecutors rather than appearing before the grand jury.

Mr Bannon confirmed he had received the subpoena from Mr Mueller during his House Intelligence Committee interview, sources said.

Politicians questioned Mr Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference and sought answers about Mr Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI director James Comey.

But Mr Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, and as a result, the chairman, Representative Devin Nunes issued the subpoena, spokesman Jack Langer said.</s>WASHINGTON - Steve Bannon's attorney relayed questions, in real time, to the White House during a House Intelligence Committee interview of the former Trump chief strategist, people familiar with the closed-door session told The Associated Press.

As lawmakers probed Bannon's time working for President Donald Trump, Bannon's 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. He is also representing top White House lawyer Don McGahn in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Tuesday's conversations were confirmed by a White House official and a second person familiar with Bannon's interview. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the questions were relayed over the phone and 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 and something that will likely happen again on any other number of occasions, not just within this administration but future administrations."

On Wednesday, the AP also confirmed that Bannon will meet with Mueller's investigators for an interview instead of appearing before a grand jury. A person familiar with that issue confirmed the interview and said Bannon is expected to cooperate with Mueller. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

It's unclear when the interview might occur.

Burck didn't respond to numerous phone messages left Tuesday and Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, declined comment.

Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for Trump, leading the Republican committee chairman to authorize a subpoena.

Lawmakers were expecting a similar fight Wednesday with Trump's White House as another senior aide, Rick Dearborn, was to appear for a private interview with the committee.

The developments brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what current and former aides tell Congress about their time in Trump's inner circle, and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue.

It is unlikely the committee will face the same White House objections with Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who is also being interviewed Wednesday. He never served in the White House.

The interviews with Lewandowski and Dearborn were confirmed by two people familiar with the committee's work who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential interviews.

The congressional subpoena for Bannon came after the former far-right media executive and recently scorned Trump adviser received a grand jury subpoena issued by Mueller. That subpoena, first reported by The New York Times, appeared to be a negotiating tactic that then prompted Bannon to agree to a sit-down with Mueller's prosecutors rather than appearing before the grand jury.

Bannon confirmed that he had received the subpoena from Mueller during his House Intelligence Committee interview, according to a person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the person wasn't authorized to publicly discuss Bannon's interactions with Mueller.

Lawmakers questioned Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference and sought answers about Trump's thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

But Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, and as a result, the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., issued the subpoena, spokesman Jack Langer said.

A White House official said the White House counsel's office had a conversation last week with committee counsel about Bannon's testimony and was told the questions were expected to be about the campaign. The official said the White House offered to send an attorney to attend the interview and was told the move wasn't necessary.

But when the lawmaker's questions moved to Bannon's time in the White House, Bannon's lawyer got on the phone with the counsel's office.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee's top Democrat, said Bannon's refusal to answer questions from the panel "can't stand" and went far beyond other witnesses who have declined to answer specific questions. He said the committee expects to have Bannon return for more questioning.

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House preventing this witness from answering almost any question concerning his time in the administration and many questions even after he left the administration," Schiff said.</s>Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon today 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 on Capitol Hill would force the issue in light of the newly issued subpoena from the Republican-controlled 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 highest-ranking person who served in the Trump White House to be called before a grand jury as part of the special counsel's investigation.

By itself, the move doesn't confirm that Mueller is presenting evidence to support future criminal charges. But it does show that Mueller is still actively using a grand jury as he probes the actions of Trump, his family and his staff during the campaign, presidential transition and the early months of the administration.

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.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said Bannon's refusal to answer those questions came at the instruction of the White House.

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House," Schiff said shortly after Bannon's interview concluded. Schiff said the committee plans to call Bannon back for a second interview.

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "no one" had encouraged Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but there's a "process of what that looks like".

"As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognised process that goes back decades," Sanders told reporters.

The House committee had planned to press Bannon on "executive actions" taken by Trump that have drawn interest from congressional investigators prying into ties between Trump's campaign and Russian operatives, said another person.

Those key elements bear directly on the criminal investigation led by Mueller, who is charged with investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey or by taking other actions to thwart investigators.

The focus on Bannon follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in the book Fire and Fury saying that he sees the president's son and others as engaging in "treasonous" behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.</s>Bannon claims under White House orders not to answer House committee (VIDEO)

Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Trump, arrives at a House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting, on January 16, 2018 in Washington. — AFP picWASHINGTON, Jan 17 — Former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon today refused to answer questions from a congressional committee probing the president’s campaign links to Russia, saying he was under orders from the White House not to.

Bannon was quizzed voluntarily behind closed doors by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, the first time he has testified in the probe investigating whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in its bid to influence the 2016 US elections.

It was unlikely to be Bannon’s last such testimony: the New York Times and the Washington Post reported yesterday that Bannon has been subpoenaed by Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel investigating the same issue.

That made Bannon the first person from Trump’s inner circle to receive a grand jury subpoena from Mueller in the probe, which is also looking at whether Trump has tried to obstruct the investigation.

When appearing before the Intelligence Committee, Bannon refused to answer a number of questions, citing “executive privilege” allowing the president to keep information from the public.

“Steve Bannon and his attorney asserted a remarkably broad definition of executive privilege,” Representative Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the committee, said on CNN.

“Now remember, it’s the president who has the executive privilege and so they went back, conferred with the White House, and the White House said that anything that happened, any communications that happened while Steve Bannon was in the White House or during the transition, any communications were off limits,” Himes said.

There were an awful lot of questions we weren’t able to answer based on this novel theory of executive privilege,” he said.

The committee itself eventually subpoenaed Bannon for refusing to answer its questions, reports said. Still, he again balked after the White House was consulted, said Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee.

Bannon “got the same instruction back again. Basically, ‘we don’t care whether it’s under compulsory process or a voluntary basis — we’re instructing you, effectively putting in place a gag rule,’“ said Schiff.

The unrestricted testimony of Trump’s estranged political strategist could be explosive: he had a front-row seat as chief executive of the 2016 election campaign in its final months, and as a top policy advisor in the first seven months of the administration.

An incendiary book released last week, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff, quoted Bannon as saying that a pre-election meeting involving Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr and a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer was “treasonous”.

Wolff, who painted a picture of an erratic and poorly informed president, was given substantial access to the White House during Trump’s first year by Bannon.

A hard-line nationalist who sought to shake up US domestic and foreign policy, Bannon, 64, was forced out as Trump’s chief strategist in August.

His actions since then — most notably supporting the failed Senate campaign of Alabama Republican Roy Moore, but also his comments in the Wolff book — have left him increasingly isolated in conservative circles.

Last week he stepped down from Breitbart News, which he had helped make a powerful conservative force, and he lost the support of the Mercer family, wealthy conservative power brokers.

Underscoring the break, Trump said Bannon had “lost his mind” and branded him “Sloppy Steve” via Twitter. — AFP</s>Special Counsel Robert Mueller III on Tuesday asked United States President Donald Trump’s former aide Steve Bannon (pictured above) to testify before a grand jury in connection with allegations about Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Mueller, who is heading the investigation, subpoenaed Bannon on the same day the White House Chief strategist testified before a House Intelligence Committee, Bloomberg reported.

The Justice Department allows prosecutors to subpoena the targets of an investigation only in rare circumstances, The New York Times reported.

The former chief strategist refused to answer questions the House Intelligence Committee asked, Democratic Party member and intelligence committee member Adam Schiff told The Guardian. Schiff said the former Breitbart executive “was willing to answer our questions but under instructions from the White House not to.”

Bannon had a public falling out with Trump after he told Michael Wolff, the author of the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, that the meeting between Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, and a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information on Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”. On January 10, Bannon had resigned from the right-wing website Breitbart News.
The New York Times reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed Steve Bannon last week to testify before a grand jury. The House Intelligence Committee issues a second subpoena, via powers seldomly used by Congress, following Bannon's testimony today that, while he was willing to answer questions, the White House instructed him not to answer questions related to his White House tenure.