Bannon can "say whatever the hell he wants" to Mueller

In contrast to his taciturn performance in front of the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Steve Bannon “intends to fully cooperate” with special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Axios.

Quoting a West Wing source, the website reported Donald Trump’s former chief strategist has been briefed to cooperate with Mueller. “He can say whatever the hell he wants to say to him about whatever topic that he wants,” an Axios source said, confirming an earlier report by The Daily Beast.

Bannon could appear before a grand jury later this month, NBC reports.

The closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee proved a tight-lipped affair, with Bannon spending 11 hours on the Hill refusing to answer questions about his time in the White House, even after he was subpoenaed to testify.

The former Breitbart chief reportedly told the committee the White House had directed him not to say anything about his time in the administration.

“We witnessed today what I believe was the most aggressive effort by the White House thus far to obstruct our efforts to seek the truth,” Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who sits on the committee, told MSNBC’s “The Last Word.”

Swalwell’s Democrat colleague Rep. Adam Schiff put it more succinctly: “This was effectively a gag order by the White House.”

Republican Rep. Mike Conaway, who heads up the committee’s Russia probe, said they would re-call Bannon to answer questions once a discussion had taken place with White House lawyers.

Bannon’s silence was pegged to the notion of executive privilege.

Speaking to the committee about his work inside the administration would breach executive privilege, according to the White House, however this would not apply to Mueller’s probe since that technically sits within the executive branch.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Mueller last week subpoenaed Bannon to testify before a grand jury.

NBC reported Wednesday the FBI attempted to serve the subpoena at Bannon’s home on Jan. 9., but it eventually went to his Washington lawyer William Burck.