Special counsel Robert Mueller had "zero interest" in questioning President Donald Trump's former chief strategist in the Russia probe until Michael Wolff's blockbuster book came out, The Daily Beast reports.
Citing a "lawyer close to Mueller's investigation," The Daily Beast said Mueller's team didn't have plans to speak with Steve Bannon until "Fire & Fury," Wolff's inside account of chaos in the Trump, White House hit bookstores on Jan. 5.
The book quoted Bannon at length.
NBC News reported that FBI agents showed up at Bannon's Washington home four days later, on Jan. 9, to serve him with a subpoena to testify before the grand jury investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
By then, Bannon had lawyered up. He reportedly told the House Intelligence Committee on Jan. 16 that he'd had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Donald Trump Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with Russians who purportedly had dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Bannon also reportedly told Wolff that he suspected Donald Trump Jr. introduced Kremlin-linked operatives to his father during their June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Various reports have said Bannon is expected to speak with Mueller's investigators before the end of the month.
A spokesperson for the special counsel did not comment to The Daily Beast on its report.
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