(Bloomberg) -- Former White House strategist Steve Bannon's interview with a House committee looking into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been delayed a week, according to lawmakers pushing back against White House efforts to limit his testimony.
“There are still negotiations going on,” Republican Representative Peter King of New York said.
Bannon had planned to skip a closed-door session with the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday despite being subpoenaed to appear, two people familiar with the matter said Monday. He had told the House Intelligence Committee that he would show up if an agreement could be reached with the White House on the scope of the questioning, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive legal matter.
Representative Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, said Tuesday that “the White House continues to prohibit Mr. Bannon from testifying to the committee beyond a set of fourteen yes-or-no questions the White House had pre-approved.”
He said “this is unacceptable, and the committee remains united on this matter.” If Bannon refuses to answer all questions, “the committee should begin contempt proceedings to compel his testimony.”
In the meantime, one of the people said, Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, has agreed to be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the election. He intends to answer all the questions, the person added. No date has been set for the Mueller interview.
On Monday, Representative Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican who is running the Intelligence Committee's investigation, said Bannon had been subpoenaed by the committee because “there are questions that need to be answered.”
“We've got all the tools the House has to enforce subpoenas,” Conaway said. “And we'll take the steps necessary.”
When Bannon appeared before the committee on Jan. 17, he refused to answer some questions, saying he was following White House instructions. Lawmakers have objected when Bannon and several other people close to President Donald Trump, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have said they wouldn't answer questions in anticipation that Trump might later assert executive privilege.
Schiff said the White House is barring Bannon from testifying on “matters during the transition, his tenure at the White House, and his communications with the president since leaving government service, even though the president has not in fact invoked executive privilege.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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