Things haven’t gone Steve Bannon’s way since he got on the wrong side of President Trump.
The former White House Chief Strategist will not appear at his scheduled testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Fox News reports.
Sources close to the matter said the former Breitbart executive chairman indicated that the Trump administration does not want Bannon to discuss his time on the transition team or in the White House.
According to the sources, Bannon’s legal team is seeking to determine whether privilege could be invoked to shield their client from questions related to those subjects. Members of the committee have said privilege would not apply.
Some members of the committee expressed frustration at Bannon’s unwillingness to testify.
Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), told the press:
“And if we have a subpoena out there that’s being ignored and we don’t do anything about it, guess what: Nobody’s going to come down to [the committee] anymore and answer questions.”
According to The Hill, the committee gave Bannon, who has also been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian electoral interference, another week to comply.
If Bannon refuses to appear before the committee, its members could vote to hold him in contempt.
The former Breitbart head fell out of favor with President Trump last month after the surfacing of a number of disparaging quotes he made about the president and his family in the book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
Bannon called Donald Trump, Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya “treasonous” and said the media would “crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”
In response, President Trump excoriated Bannon and labeled him “Sloppy Steve.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/949498795074736129
Bannon has since called the president “a great man” and claimed to support him “day in and day out.”
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