Feb. 15 (UPI) — Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is expected to appear on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a closed-door interview over the ongoing Russian probe.
It is unclear whether the ex-strategist will appear in front of the House Intelligence Committee after he stood up the panel last week and rescheduled his appearances.
“Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me three times, fool me four times,” Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., a member of the committee, said when asked if he believed Bannon would show up to the interview.
Lawmakers are reportedly indicating that Bannon should be held in contempt of Congress is he fails to show up for his interview once again.
“If you don’t (enforce the subpoena), what kind of precedent is that sending? For not just our committee, but every committee,” Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., said.
Bannon was forced out of his top position at the White House in August.
The ex-startegist first met with the House committee in January where he was questioned for eight hours.
The interview came shortly after Bannon’s remarks were published in a book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by Michael Wolff.
In the book, Bannon called a meeting between the President Donald Trump‘s campaign and a Russian lawyer “treasonous” and added he believed the special counsel investigation on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election focused on money laundering.
