Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon would only answer questions pre-approved by the White House during an interview Thursday with the House Intelligence Committee, lawmakers said.
Members from both parties were fuming after the interview, which lasted roughly three hours, saying Bannon had refused to answer any questions that touched on his work for President Trump after the 2016 election.
“The only questions he would answer were questions that had been scripted, literally scripted, for him by the White House. A set of 25 questions that had been written out for him to which the answer to each must be ‘no,'” said Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the panel’s ranking Democrat.
Bannon invoked executive privilege when asked questions that extended beyond his list, an assertion the committee does not believe he has the grounds to make, the lawmakers said.
“There is no plausible claim of privilege that could apply to those circumstances,” Schiff added.
“The breadth of that claim is breathtaking and insupportable, and indeed, at times, it was laughable.”
What Are Your Thoughts?
