Perhaps President Trump is right: Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, may have very well lost his mind. Or perhaps this is just standard procedure.
Bannon was scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee today, as part of the Committee’s ongoing probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. But, it appears he won’t be attending the meeting, risking being held in contempt of Congress.
From CNN:
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is not expected to appear before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, risking being held in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena, according to a source close to the process.
Escalating a tense standoff with the panel, Bannon isn’t planning on showing up because the White House and committee haven’t reached an agreement over the scope of the questioning, the source said.
Breaking: Fmr WH chief strategist #SteveBannon will NOT appear before House Intel Cmte tomorrow, risking being held in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena – @mkraju @KaraScannell report
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 6, 2018
This isn’t a smooth move, Steve. In fact, it’s downright sloppy.
The whole reason there isn’t an agreement between the White House and Bannon is that Bannon, ever the loose-lipped leaker, screwed up in a major way the last time he was before the Committee. Last month, during a closed-door testimony session, he made the following mistake:
Steve Bannon made one conspicuous slip up in his closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the confidential proceedings. Bannon admitted that he’d had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Junior’s infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016.
It’s definitely better that Bannon gets his remarks right before he goes through another meeting with the House Intelligence Committee. But let’s hope that it doesn’t take too long, to the point where he is held in contempt of Congress.
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