Tipsheet

It Begins: Leading Dem on Senate Intelligence Committee Wants Bannon Under Oath on Russia

If you've been paying any attention at all to the news cycle, you know former Trump campaign advisor and White House staffer Steve Bannon has been banished from the Republican Party and by President Trump himself after essentially telling author Michael Wolff Donald Trump Jr. is a traitor. 

"The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor -- with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers," Bannon continued, according to the Guardian. "Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately."

But while the drama unfolding in the White House is better than an episode of House of Cards, there are legal implications to what Bannon allegedly said and Democrats still zeroed in on the Russia probe are paying close attention. Senate Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Mark Warner wants him to testify under oath about what he knows. 

"If he has a factual basis for these allegations, particularly one that you hadn’t mentioned yet that he assumed that the participants of that meeting were brought up and met Mr. Trump himself, I’d like to find out whether that’s true or not," Warner said Wednesday during an interview on CNN. "I’d like to find out why he made these claims about money laundering, about this meeting being treasonous, I agree this meeting should have been reported to the FBI. If he has a story to tell I’d like him to come before our committee and give testimony, yes."

You can bet Special Counsel Robert Mueller has also taken notice. 

Late last year during an interview with 60 Minutes, Bannon was adamant the Russia collusion story was a made up narrative with zero evidence to prove any claims being made by the media.