Despite subpoena, Bannon won’t appear before House Intelligence Committee: reports

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon will not appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, despite a subpoena, according to media reports.

Bannon is not expected to appear before the committee because the White House and the intelligence panel have not yet reached an agreement on the scope of questions he could face, CNN and Reuters reported.

Ignoring a subpoena issued by the committee could expose Bannon to a possible contempt of Congress charge, the news outlets noted.

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Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the lawmaker leading the committee’s Russia investigation, said on Monday that he expected Bannon to answer questions on Tuesday.

According to the reports, Bannon is willing to answer questions from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which is conducting the criminal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

He is expected to meet with investigators on Mueller’s team next week, Reuters reported. 

Bannon first met with the House Intelligence Committee last month. During that meeting, he frustrated lawmakers on both sides of the aisle by refusing to answer questions pertaining to his time in the White House. 

His attorneys said that he had been directed by the White House not to answer such questions in order to protect President Trump’s right to executive privilege. Still, his refusal to answer certain questions prompted lawmakers to issue a subpoena during the testimony.