Mueller issues Steve Bannon with grand jury subpoena - report

US Present Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon was on Tuesday reportedly subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify in front a grand jury as part of his ongoing investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to The New York Times, which cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter, Bannon was the first person from Trump's inner circle to have been issued a grand jury subpoena by Mueller in his quest for information, although the special counsel had previously used subpoenas to gather knowledge of the president's associates.

The possibility existed that the subpoena was a negotiating tactic, with Mueller being likely to pardon Bannon from the grand jury appearance if he agreed to be questioned by investigators at the special counsel's headquarters in Washington, the same source told the newspaper.

On Tuesday, Bannon testified before the House Intelligence Committee, which had also been investigating Russia's influence over the 2016 presidential election, as well as links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

Mueller issued the subpoena after Bannon was cited in Michael Wolff's book on the Trump administration 'Fire and Fury', where he was quoted as saying that Donald Trump Jr's 2016 meeting with Russians nationals was a "treasonous" act, and him predicting that the special counsel investigation would inevitably revolve around accusations of money laundering.