Bannon hires Washington lawyer ahead of House committee testimony: report

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon has hired Washington lawyer Bill Burck to help prepare him to testify before the House Intelligence Committee, according to multiple reports. 

Bannon is reportedly hiring Burck just for the hearing, NBC News reported. His representation is not related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Burck, a partner at the law firm Quinn Emmanuel, also represented White House counsel Don McGahn and former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, according to Law360.

{mosads}The House committee, which is investigating Russian election interference, requested late last month that Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski testify before the panel in January. 

Bannon was working as Trump’s chief strategist when the president fired FBI Director James Comey last year. Comey was spearheading the Justice Department’s Russia probe at the time, which has raised questions about the circumstances of his termination.

Bannon left his role as chairman of Breitbart News earlier this week following a dramatic falling out with Trump and the White House.

The departure followed the release of author Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” in which Bannon said Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower was “treasonous.”

Bannon, in the book, was also quoted saying investigators would crack Trump Jr. like an egg on national television.

Updated 11:57 a.m.