Former senior adviser to Donald Trump Steve Bannon is defying a subpoena issued by the House intelligence Committee to testify today. Bannon is risking being held in contempt for failing to comply.
Bannon appeared before the Committee last month but refused to answer any of its questions, claiming executive privilege. There was significant uncertainty however over whether Bannon could legally assert the privilege as many of the committee’s questions were related to time spent before Donald Trump became president and after Bannon left the White House.
Bannon’s refusal to answer questions angered members of both parties who issued a subpoena directing Bannon to comply. Bannon said he would return to answer the committee’s questions as soon as an agreement was reached between Congress and the White House as to the scope of the questions that Bannon could answer. He has since delayed his return to the Capitol Hill twice.
Further angering lawmakers, Bannon has promised to comply fully with special counsel Robert Mueller, who also subpoenaed Bannon to answer questions before his investigators.
Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican in charge of the committee’s Russia investigation told reporters last night that he expected Bannon to appear and was not aware of any agreement that would limit Bannon’s testimony.