Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is advising White House officials and congressional aides on a strategy designed to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation, according to a new report.
Bannon has suggested that President Trump first fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s probe. Trump is already reportedly weighing firing Rosenstein, after Rosenstein approved an FBI raid of the office and home of his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Monday.
Additionally, the former Breitbart News executive chairman has proposed the White House halt complying with Mueller — a shift from the status quo that allows the White House to provide Mueller information and permitted staff to testify before Mueller’s team. Bannon also is pushing for Trump to assert executive privilege and make clear all interviews White House officials have had with Mueller’s team are null and void, sources told the Washington Post.
Bannon told the newspaper that Trump wasn’t “fully briefed by his lawyers on the implications” of failing to invoke executive privilege.
“It was a strategic mistake to turn over everything without due process, and executive privilege should be exerted immediately and retroactively,” Bannon said.
Bannon believes that Trump just needs a gentle push to oust Rosenstein, sources told the Post.
But there are no signals that Trump has been informed of the plan or would heed Bannon’s advice. Trump publicly denounced Bannon earlier this year, after it was revealed Bannon said unflattering things about Trump’s family in a tell-all book.
“If you say his name in front of the president, it’s not a pretty sight,” a senior administration official told the Washington Post of Bannon, who was fired from the White House in August. “The president really goes off about him.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI. He has called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and reportedly even ordered Mueller to be terminated the summer last year before backing off. The New York Times also reported this week that Trump attempted to fire Mueller again in December.
Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
