Bannon likely to meet next week with Mueller: report

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon is reportedly likely to meet next week with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s election interference.

The CNBC report comes after Bannon’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee was postponed for the third time amid a fierce wrangling over what lawmakers will be able to question him about. {mosads}

Bannon was scheduled to make a return trip to Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, as lawmakers seek answers about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump campaign officials had improper contacts with Moscow.

Last month, Bannon reportedly made a deal with Mueller’s team so that he would not testify before a grand jury. He was also subpoenaed by Mueller. It was one of the few instances that Mueller has used a subpoena to compel information from a member of Trump’s inner circle.

Bannon joined the Trump campaign in August of 2016, stayed on through the transition and left the White House in August of 2017.

He was not a participant in a number of key incidents believed to be focal points of the federal investigation into Russia’s election interference, including a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian government lawyer and the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

He was, however, reportedly involved in the decision-making behind firing former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has since pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators as part of the federal Russia probe.

He has, in recent months, become persona non grata in Republican circles, including a public breakdown in his relationship with President Trump, spurred by comments he made to author Michael Wolff for his controversial book about the Trump White House.