Franklin, Andrews, Kramer & Edelstein

[scion]

Bannon agrees to Mueller interview but delays Hill return as White House seeks to limit testimony

By Karoun Demirjian and Rosalind S. Helderman January 17 at 7:39 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/bannon-agrees-to-mueller-interview-but-delays-return-before-hill-committee/2018/01/17/202a227a-fbde-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.e1acb58f1846

Former top White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon has agreed to be interviewed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team, but his lawyer pushed back against House investigators’ demands for an audience Thursday afternoon, arguing there is insufficient time to get the White House’s sign-off on what Bannon can discuss.

The discrepancy has touched off a bitter dispute between lawmakers and the Trump administration about the extent to which President Trump may try to assert executive privilege and block the testimony of witnesses before congressional panels investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

Bannon appears prepared to cooperate with the special counsel’s Russia probe. After receiving a subpoena last week to appear before a grand jury, the former Trump strategist is instead going to be permitted give a voluntary interview to Mueller’s investigators, a session that is likely to be held before the end of the month, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.

But on Tuesday, the House Intelligence Committee unsuccessfully used a rare subpoena to attempt to force Bannon to respond to questions that his attorney said he could not answer until the White House determined what topics could be subject to executive privilege.

In a rare bipartisan display of solidarity, Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the panel joined in criticizing the administration’s move, saying they must preserve Congress’s ability to conduct independent investigations.

Senior GOP member Thomas J. Rooney (Fla.) called it “an institutional issue ... not a partisan issue,” while ranking Democrat Adam B. Schiff of California said Congress “cannot allow a precedent where the White House can simply say, with no invocation of privilege that .?.?. ‘we’re simply going to deny Congress information.’”

Schiff and Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.), who is leading the panel’s Russia investigation, sent a letter Wednesday to Bannon’s lawyer, William Burck, insisting that Bannon return to Capitol Hill on Thursday at 2 p.m. to comply with the subpoena.

On Tuesday, Bannon had refused to answer questions about his time on the transition team and in Trump’s administration or to detail certain interactions he had with the White House after he left the administration, citing instructions from the White House.

Conaway and Schiff instructed Bannon to be prepared by Thursday “to answer all questions for which there has been no claim of privilege asserted” and to “work with the White House to expeditiously clarify the precise scope of any executive privilege claims the president may wish to invoke,” according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/bannon-agrees-to-mueller-interview-but-delays-return-before-hill-committee/2018/01/17/202a227a-fbde-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.e1acb58f1846