Mueller Time! The subpoena YOU have been waiting for!
They say timing is everything. This morning,
President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday with a US House of Representatives committee that is probing whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
The interview with the House Intelligence Committee comes after Bannon’s public falling out with the president over comments Bannon made to author Michael Wolff for his new book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
In the book, Bannon is quoted as describing a June 2016 meeting between Trump associates, including the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer, as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”
Gee ya think? (It’s been no secret since last spring that Bannon and Kushner were not exactly besties.)
But I digress, because BOOM!
Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. The special counsel’s office has used subpoenas before to seek information on Mr. Trump’s associates and their possible ties to Russia or other foreign governments.
The subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices about ties between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia and about the president’s conduct in office, according to the person, who would not be named discussing the case. But it was not clear why Mr. Mueller treated Mr. Bannon differently than the dozen administration officials who were interviewed in the final months of last year and were never served with a subpoena.
The subpoena is a sign that Bannon is not personally the focus of the investigation. Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena to the targets of investigations only in rare circumstances.
Trump has bad-mouthed Bannon repeatedly.
Bannon got forced out of the neo-fascist “news” service Breitbart.com by his former allies.
His wingnut welfare benefactors, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, have shunned him.
One can only conclude that Bannon has a touring trunk filled with sharpened axes ready to wield against the biggest bag of hammers in Beltway history — and a couple of racist billionaires.
Get ready for some fireworks…
We suggest you read Twitterati @aliasvaughn’s thread on why this subpoena is, as Joe Biden would say, a BFD.
