'With a law-and-order party like this, who needs crooks?': GOP slammed by heartland paper for ignoring Bannon's criminality

The editorial board of the Kansas City Star dropped the hammer on House Republicans on Saturday after they sat on their hands and refused to vote with Democrats to ask the Department of Justice to charge Steve Bannon with congressional contempt.

The former Donald Trump adviser has refused to honor a subpoena to turn over documents and appear to testify about the Jan 6th insurrection being investigated by a bipartisan committee investigating the events of the day and what led up to it. After a vote by the committee, the matter was handed off to the House where the referral passed with only a handful of Republicans joining with the Democrats.

That led to the Star's editorial board wondering what it takes for Republicans to respect the rule of law.

"For anyone who still needs it, most Republican House members last week provided more evidence that the GOP — once the 'law-and-order' party — is now the party that coddles criminals," they wrote before adding, "... this shameful roster (including all six of Missouri's GOP House members) is once again running interference for a lawless ex-president who tried to overthrow a valid election."

As the editors noted, this is not the first time that Republicans have sided with Trump and his allies against the law, including two impeachment trials that ended up going nowhere because of GOP intransigence and saying nothing about his pardons that helped cover-up criminality.

"With a law-and-order party like this, who needs crooks?" they asked before writing, "The crime that Bannon committed to merit Thursday's House vote to hold him in contempt is, like so much of the lawbreaking the GOP tries to ignore these days, pretty clear-cut: When Congress issues a subpoena, the subject of that subpoena is legally required to provide the information being sought — in this case, testimony about Bannon's conversations with Trump before the Jan. 6 attack."

"This really isn't that complicated: A congressional probe to establish exactly who did what in advance of a mob attack on the seat of America's government is not only justified but required. Congress has the legal authority to subpoena relevant witnesses for that probe. Those who defy such subpoenas are breaking the law," they wrote before dryly concluding, "And the party that tries to shield those lawbreakers should stop pretending it cherishes law and order."

You can read the whole editorial here -- subscription required.