Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon suspects that special counsel Robert Muellerâs ongoing Russia probe will be suspended in the near future.
In an interview with the National Interest published Monday, the former Breitbart News executive chairman claimed that recent developments concerning government misconduct â such as those involving FBI agents Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and âthat whole crowdâ â have jeopardized the âunderpinnings of the whole Russia investigation.â
âThatâs going to put the whole Mueller thing on hold,â Bannon said. âFor right now. ⦠I think youâre going to see in the coming week, youâre going to see a number of very sophisticated â and these are not Trump supporters â lawyers in town, in Washington, writing analysis. ⦠They have to fully vet the underpinnings of the entire Mueller investigation.â
It was revealed last year that Strzok and Page had an affair and exchanged text messages critical of Trump. Strzok was removed from the Mueller investigation upon the discovery of the texts, and Page resigned from her post last month.
Newly revealed insight into their text messages from the Justice Department inspector general report on the FBI’s management of the investigation into Hillary Clintonâs use of a private email server shows that Page expressed concerns that Trump would be elected president. In response, Strzok sought to assuage her fears, saying, âWeâll stop it.â
âThis shows you thereâs been obstruction already,â Bannon said. âThe IG report is one small sliver.â
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a letter to Congress prior to the reportâs release last week that the texts between Strzok and Page negatively impacted the FBIâs standing by signaling there was bias within the agency, but ultimately determined that the scandal didnât impact Muellerâs probe.
Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
