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Rep. Swalwell: White House Choosing What Can Be Said in Hearing

(AP)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Thursday, 18 January 2018 11:16 AM EST

After President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski's refusal to answer some questions Wednesday during a House Intelligence Committee hearing, Rep. Eric Swalwell said it appears that the White House is choosing what can be said.

"It would at least be lawful for [Steve] Bannon to say he was invoking executive privilege, but that isn't what occurred," the California Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"Lewandowski comes in and refuses to answer any questions, says he talked to the president the night before but wouldn't tell us anything that occurred after [he] left the campaign."

During Wednesday's hearing, Lewandowski, who had told television interviewers earlier this week that he would answer the Intelligence Committee's questions, told lawmakers that he was not prepared to answer questions that related to anything after he left the Trump campaign in June 2016, according to multiple sources, but said he was willing to return at a later date, The Hill reported.

Meanwhile, Swalwell said during Bannon's testimony, he saw the former chief strategist's attorney several times to speak with the White House and report back that the White House was "telling Mr. Bannon that he could not talk about the transition, he could not talk about his time at the White House. He could not even talk about his time after he left the White House."

Bannon's attorney also represents White House counsel Don McGahn, said Swalwell, and he thinks that is a "monumental conflict of interest."

"I suggest these guys are working together to advance a narrative to protect the president," Swalwell said.

Chief of staff John Kelly has denied that the White House told Bannon to invoke executive privilege on the questions, but Swalwell said it would have been "pretty bold" for Bannon's lawyer to state to Congress that he was talking to the White House when he was not.