President Trump’s former chief adviser, Steve Bannon, has refused to answer a range of questions posed by a congressional committee.<\/p>\n
He was being interviewed by the House intelligence committee, which is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Mr Bannon would answer only 25 questions approved in advance by the White House, members said.<\/p>\n
The committee is reportedly considering holding him in contempt.<\/p>\n
“Steve Bannon stonewalled the intel committee today,” Democratic member Joaquin Castro said in a tweet.<\/p>\n
“Sure seems like he’s covering up something(s). He should be held in contempt.”<\/p>\n
Adam Schiff, the panel’s Democratic leader, called for contempt proceedings against Mr Bannon, according to Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n
Republican Representative Mike Conaway said members of the panel were unhappy with Mr Bannon’s responses.<\/p>\n
“He did not answer all the questions we’d like answered, so there was frustration among committee members with respect to that,” said Mr Conaway.<\/p>\n
The hearing was a closed-door session, so full details have not yet emerged – instead being revealed by senior journalists with sources on the committee.<\/p>\n
CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju tweeted that Mr Bannon had been advised by President Trump to invoke executive privilege, a prerogative allowing him to withhold information.<\/p>\n
Mr Bannon – who was forced out of the White House in August – appeared following a subpoena from the House Intelligence Committee.<\/p>\n
He voluntarily met with the same committee in January but\u00a0refused to answer any questions<\/a>\u00a0over a 10-hour period.<\/p>\n The committee then issued a subpoena compelling him to return for a second time.<\/p>\n According to the New York Times, he has also been subpoenaed by former FBI director Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel who is leading a parallel inquiry into alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election campaign.<\/p>\n Mr Bannon is reportedly the first of Mr Trump’s inner circle to\u00a0be summoned to testify before a grand jury.<\/a><\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"