Trump strategist Steve Bannon hit by grand jury subpoena

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon to appear before a grand jury, a move that indicates his broad investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign is far from wrapping up.

“It is the most tortured analysis of executive privilege I have ever heard of”, Gowdy said on Fox News.

Jackson says Trump is healthy and should remain so for the remainder of his presidency.

“I certainly think the committee respects executive privilege”, he said, but the question is whether it applies to events in the transition before a president takes office or to discussion in the White House about what happened during the campaign.

Bannon was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, initially requiring him to appear before a federal grand jury as part of the Russian Federation investigation.

On Tuesday White House press secretary Sarah Sanders claimed the Trump administration wasn’t concerned about what Bannon had to say, and was vague about whether he was directed not to answer questions.

A Russian intermediary had contacted Trump Jr with a promise to provide material that would “incriminate” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

“Only Steve Bannon could unite this committee”, commented Representative Mike Quigley. “It goes well beyond anything we have seen in this investigation”.

Experts told the newspaper that the subpoena signaled a number of things, including that Bannon is likely not the target of the Russian Federation investigation, because Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena a probe’s targets only in rare cases, the Times noted.

Bannon allowed Wolff, who painted a picture of an erratic and poorly informed president, substantial access to the White House during Trump’s first year.

But his abrupt departure from Breitbart last week came amid tensions between the two men that exploded in public after the publication of “Fire and Fury”, a book by Michael Wolff which extensively quoted Bannon criticizing Trump and his family. Though the subpoena asks Bannon to appear before a grand jury, Mueller may offer the former top Trump adviser a more private interview instead, NBC said. He also refused to discuss conversations he may have had with Trump after he left the White House.

White House communications director Hope Hicks, who served as Mr Trump’s spokeswoman during his presidential campaign after a tenure with his Trump Organisation real estate business, is also expected to be questioned by the committee this week, according to a congressional source.

Sources told Fox News that Bannon’s initial grand jury subpoena was an “overreach” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“We know from the Erik Prince testimony…that [Prince] had a meeting with Steve Bannon before he made that trip to the Seychelles traveling halfway around the world to have what he described essentially as a coincidental meeting with a Russian in a bar”, Schiff said.