“Steve Bannon found himself back in the hot seat last month as the former White House adviser answered questions from Senate intelligence committee investigators behind closed doors,” the Daily Beast reports.

“The sources said investigators asked about Cambridge Analytica, the controversial and now defunct data firm he co-founded.”

Playbook: “Can anyone point us to any money that Steve Bannon spent on this election? He told various new outlets that he was going to spend many millions of dollars on digital ads supporting House Republicans. We cannot find evidence he spent one dollar.”

“The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is pursuing a wide-ranging investigation into former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s activities during the 2016 presidential campaign,” Reuters reports.

“The committee is looking into what Bannon might know about any contacts during the campaign between Moscow and two advisers to the campaign, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.”

“As Donald Trump held midterm rallies this week in front of thousands, his one-time chief strategist Steve Bannon made his own, rather more low-key return to the campaign trail,” the Guardian reports.

“Bannon appeared in front of 200 people at a firehouse outside Buffalo, New York, ostensibly to campaign for Republicans based in the area. But in a visceral demonstration of just how far Bannon’s stock has fallen since leaving the White House 14 months ago, none of those Republicans running for office turned up.”

Steve Bannon told Bloomberg that next month’s congressional elections will be a referendum on the president and that Republicans can still hang on to a slender House majority with the GOP base energized by the bitter confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Said Bannon: “I’ve called this now for many months to be his first re-elect. There’s a very narrow gate you have to go through but it’s doable. The Kavanaugh hearings gave us traction for the first time to try to, against all odds just like in ’16, to try to close strong and try to save it by a seat or two.”

Stephen Bannon is ratcheting up his war on the Koch network, accusing the billionaire brothers of running “a conscious scam” and a “con job,” The Hill reports.

“He also has a warning for Republican candidates in November’s midterm elections who might be thinking of distancing themselves from President Trump: Don’t do it.”

Said Bannon: “You’re not going to be able to hide Trump. The opposition is going to force this anyway…You have to go all-in. If you try to go in half-baked, it’s not going to work.”

Steve Bannon is expected to launch a new “war room” aimed at helping Republicans keep control of Congress, “all in the name of preserving the power of his former boss President Trump, who only a few months ago publicly denounced him,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“Sources close to Trump so far say they don’t know how closely the president is watching his former chief strategist. And there are mixed signals as to how easily Bannon will be able to reingratiate himself with Trump’s inner circle, which he flamed out of earlier this year.”

“This election is very simple. It’s an up-or-down vote on impeachment.”

— Stephen Bannon, quoted by Vanity Fair.