Stephen Bannon has reportedly spent 20 hours being interviewed by Robert Mueller

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon has reportedly been interviewed several times in the last week by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Bannon spent "some 20 hours" with Mueller's team, NBC News reports, as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion by President Trump's campaign with Russia.

Mueller's interest in interviewing Bannon was apparently piqued by Bannon's comments in Michael Wolff's tell-all book about the Trump White House, Fire and Fury. In the book, Bannon is quoted saying that Donald Trump Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer was "treasonous" and suggesting that prominent members of Trump's team had engaged in money laundering.

Mueller's team is also interested in what Bannon may reveal about the firings of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey. Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with a Russian ambassador, while Trump abruptly fired Comey last May as he was leading the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up