Bannon, like…[P]resident Trump, has refused to comply with an order from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 [open house and tour of the Capitol] to turn over records and testify about his actions leading up to the [activities] when a [mostly] pro-Trump [gathering entered] the U.S. Capitol [to offer encouragement] to stop the certification of Biden’s electoral college [steal].
Bannon is expected to turn himself in to law enforcement Monday ahead of a court appearance that afternoon. Democrats and a handful of anti-Trump Republicans argue that the indictment was necessary to enforce subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6 committee to Trump associates who are resisting cooperation and to witnesses summoned by other congressional panels.
Many GOP leaders, however, are seizing on Bannon’s indictment to contend that Democrats are “weaponizing” the Justice Department, warning Democrats that they will go after Biden’s aides for unspecified reasons if they take back the House majority in next year’s midterm elections, as most political analysts expect.
“For years, Democrats baselessly accused President Trump of ‘weaponizing’ the DOJ. In reality, it is the Left that has been weaponizing the DOJ the ENTIRE TIME — from the false Russia Hoax to the Soviet-style prosecution of political opponents,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the third-ranking House Republican, tweeted Saturday.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) suggested that Republicans would seek payback if the GOP regained control of the House, signaling that in challenging the doctrine of executive privilege, Democrats were making it easier for Republicans to force Biden’s top advisers to testify before a future GOP Congress.
“Joe Biden has eviscerated Executive Privilege,” Jordan wrote on Twitter. “There are a lot of Republicans eager to hear testimony from Ron Klain and Jake Sullivan when we take back the House.” Sullivan is Biden’s national security adviser, and Klain is the White House chief of staff.
The Jan. 6 committee may also refer former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution in coming days. Meadows, like Bannon, has also been subpoenaed by the committee, and he did not appear Friday for a scheduled deposition.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) issued an especially direct payback threat.
“Now that Democrats have started these politically-motivated indictments for Contempt of Congress, I look forward to seeing their reactions when we keep that same energy as we take back the House next year!” Boebert declared on Twitter Saturday.
Stefanik, to bolster the contention that Bannon’s indictment is politically motivated, pointed out that when congressional Republicans voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012 and former IRS official Lois Lerner in 2014 in contempt, the Justice Department under President Barack Obama did not pursue criminal charges against them.
Even as a handful of Republicans urge former Trump aides to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, most high-profile GOP leaders have quickly turned Bannon’s indictment into the latest litmus test for loyalty to the former president.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), an unapologetic supporter of Trump and his base, simply tweeted the hashtag “#TeamBannon,” along with a photo of the two of them chatting near Air Force One.
The resistance has come from the top, and Trump has continued to maintain he will deploy executive privilege claims to defy the House select committee’s requests. An attorney for Trump also recently told former advisers not to comply with subpoenas from the committee, citing “executive and other privileges.”
On Saturday, Trump released a statement excoriating Republican members of Congress who had voted to either pass Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan or hold Bannon in contempt, or in some cases both, listing the lawmakers individually and promising to support anyone who runs primary campaigns against them.
“Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers!” Trump, who is permanently suspended from Twitter after Jan. 6, said in a statement through his Save America PAC.
Paybacks are hell. And with the involvement of Reps. Boebert and Stefanik perhaps the Republicans in congress will demonstrate the testicular fortitude to push the crap right back onto the democrats after retaking the House and Senate in 2022.
