Former White House senior strategist will defy subpoena, citing lack of agreement on scope of questioning, says individual familiar with matter

The former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon will not testify before the intelligence committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to sources – defying a subpoena requiring him to appear.

The panel wants Bannon to testify as part of its investigation of allegations that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election in the United States, following up on his 16 January appearance that failed to satisfy some members of the committee.

Representative Mike Conaway, a senior Republican committee member, told reporters on Monday that he expected Bannon to comply with a subpoena and answer questions on Tuesday.

Profile Who is Steve Bannon? Show Hide Born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1953, Steve Bannon was the chief executive officer of Donald Trump’s election campaign in its final months in 2016. He later served as the president’s chief strategist for seven months during the early phase of his administration. He was fired in the summer of 2017, but Trump is recently said to have been talking about him positively. The bluntly spoken, combative Bannon was the voice of a nationalistic, outsider conservatism, and he pushed Trump to follow through on some of his most contentious campaign promises, including his travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries.

He led the rightwing Breitbart News before being tapped to head Trump's campaign, where he pushed a scorched earth strategy.

After Trump fired him, Bannon launched a European operation called the Movement. Based in Brussels, it was set up to give far-right parties access to polling data, analytics, advice on social media campaigns and help selecting candidates. “Remember ‘Bannon’s theorem’,” he told the Guardian at the time. “You put a reasonable face on rightwing populism, you get elected.”

Bannon, who served in the navy and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before becoming a Hollywood producer, had been hosting a pro-Trump podcast called "War Room" that began during the president's impeachment proceedings and had continued during the pandemic. He was arrested in August 2020 and charged with fraud over a fundraising campaign called We Build the Wall. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/X90181

But a source close to Bannon confirmed to the Guardian that he would not appear. The source cited a lack of agreement on the scope of questioning between the intelligence committee and the White House, while noting Bannon’s intention to eventually meet with House investigators.

In the meantime, the source said, Bannon would be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Two sources familiar with the situation also told Reuters he would not appear, which could leave Bannon facing a charge of contempt of Congress.

Bannon could not immediately be reached for comment.

One of the Reuters sources said the White House had not authorized Bannon to answer committee questions. During his 16 January appearance, Bannon refused to answer questions about his time in President Donald Trump’s administration or the post-election presidential transition, committee members said.

The intelligence committee and the White House have not resolved the question of whether executive privilege would apply in Bannon’s case.

Should Bannon refuse a subpoena from the House committee, he could be held in contempt of Congress, a federal misdemeanor. The full House would have to vote on that charge, however, and then it would fall to the Justice Department to prosecute – if it were inclined to pursue the case.

Quick guide What are the Trump-Russia congressional inquiries? Show Hide Beyond Mueller Three separate congressional committees are investigating Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign: the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees, and the House intelligence committee. The committees have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. The list of witnesses to have been interviewed so far is long, and includes Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner, as well as lesser figures such as former adviser Carter Page; Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, which commissioned the Steele dossier; and Ben Rhodes, the former Obama adviser. Senate intelligence committee The most aggressive of the three committees so far, with a reasonable appearance of bipartisanship. Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina said in October that the question of potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives remained open. But Burr has also said the committee was not focused on “criminal acts” but a larger picture. The committee notably heard testimony from James Comey after the former FBI director was fired. Senate judiciary committee Hampered early on by partisan disagreement about the scope of its investigation, the committee has interviewed top witnesses including Donald Trump Jr and has taken a particular focus on the firing of James Comey. But the committee has deferred to Mueller in the investigation of Paul Manafort and has interviewed fewer witnesses than others.

House intelligence committee Riven by partisan conflict, the committee appears to be on track to produce two reports – one from each party. Chairman Devin Nunes recused himself from the inquiry in March after Trump tweeted that Barack Obama had "tapp[ed] my phones" and Nunes, in an apparent attempt to defend the president, revealed that some communications involving Trump aides had been intercepted by US surveillance programs.



Three congressional committees, along with the Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating the allegations of Russian influence.

The source said Bannon would answer all of Mueller’s questions when he appeared before him, which was expected to be next week.

Russia denies meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion between his associates and Russia.