Poor Steve Bannon. Testimony already dominated Steve Bannon’s thoughts today as he appeared before a closed-door meeting of the House Intelligence Committee. His day will end knowing that the whole world is now aware that he’s received a grand jury subpoena from Robert Mueller’s office.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that “Person-With-Direct-Knowledge-Of-The-Matter” (PWDKOTM to his or her friends) informed them that Bannon received the subpoena last week. Bannon also lost his job at Breitbart last week (or “stepped down” in the parlance of our times), so he’s really having a run of tragedy (or “karma” in the parlance of our times).

What does this mean? PWDKOTM didn’t say, but if you subscribe to the premise that members of Mueller’s office are consummate professionals and not rank amateurs — which certainly seems more likely given the individuals involved — then this tip isn’t some sloppy leak, but a conscious strategic move from an office of seasoned prosecutors. Once you accept that, then the relevant question isn’t “why is Mueller taking the heretofore uninvoked step of a grand jury subpoena” but “why does the Mueller team feel the public should know that they’ve taken this step.”

Before the half-cocked on both sides take to social media (too late) to offer their well-considered analysis that this means Trump will be arrested next Monday or that this is FAKE NEWS, consider that it might be a little of both. What would Mueller’s team have to gain from shining a spotlight on this? If they subpoenaed Bannon merely to create leverage to bring him into a voluntary meeting, as some are speculating, then they could have done that without bringing the Times into the equation. Frankly, they wouldn’t necessarily want the world to see them back away from the grand jury if Bannon subsequently relented to an interview request.

So it’s unlikely that this is nothing. On the other hand, if the Mueller team thought they had the goods on Bannon, what do they have to gain from telling the world that they’re dragging him in? Grand jury testimony — because of its secrecy — is world-class journalistic blue balls. The circus around what he may or may not say will run rampant and whip up a partisan frenzy that will go ballistic when they don’t see immediate fallout. Why wouldn’t the prosecutors prefer to keep it under wraps until they had something they could act on?

Unless they think this is exactly the bur that’ll inspire Trump to incriminate himself by running his tiny thumbs on Twitter in anger. Now that’s something.

Or, perhaps, the leak is coming from Bannon’s camp (or from Mueller’s on Bannon’s behalf). If Bannon, already watching his alt-right empire kick him to the curb for his criticisms of Trump, hoped to salvage his reputation to set up another act in the world of inbred supremacists, he may actually need the public to perceive him as dragged kicking and screaming into the grand jury chamber.

The point is, don’t let talking heads and hot takes about “what this subpoena means” overtake placing this matter in the proper context. What this all means can’t be divorced from the fact that someone — pardon me, someone with direct knowledge — thought it was critical that the public know about this.

Bannon Is Subpoenaed in Mueller’s Russia Investigation [New York Times]

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.