Air Carrier Captain reported nose wheel steering issues during taxi for take off and elected to return to the gate for repairs.

Narrative

Leg 1 of OE trip with a new Captain. When we started to taxi the tiller would move left but was jammed and could not steer left. Called Maintenance for a tow back to the gate. I had our FAA designee jump seater review the logbook while we accomplished all the duties and coordination related to a gate return. Previous write up. When Maintenance showed up they had a can of cleaner and a rag and another Maintenance technician was carrying a pole with a log book retriever on it. They wiped the valve off; and asked if it was OK. The Captain attempted to move the tiller. Very stiff; 3 times harder to move compared to normal. I requested we be towed in because it still wasn't correct. We were on Aircraft X heading to airports that were currently plowed 70 ft. wide with FICON of 3/3/3. Some of these runways require a 180 turn on the Runway. When we got to the gate a Maintenance lead came on board; told us the assembly had been cleaned after the previous write up and he found an 'ice crystal' on it and we should be good to go. Under the circumstances I requested a new aircraft. Upon landing in ZZZ and updating my flight plan I noticed an email from ZZZ1 base chief asking about what happened and that he had been 'Jumped' by ZZZ1 Maintenance about us (me) refusing the aircraft. I believe this is unacceptable behavior from Company Maintenance personnel. The cause of this behavior was operational pressures. Lesson learned is I wish I had not opened that email when I was updating my flight plan. I assumed it was something very important because I was contacted prior than finishing duty. It was very distracting for us on our last leg of a very long day with challenging conditions.