Editor's note: Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The House of Representatives has approved holding prominent conservative broadcaster and former U.S. President Donald Trump's chief strategist Steven Bannon in contempt of Congress in concurrence with the recommendation of their special committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Bannon had refused to comply with the subpoena against him asking for documents and testimony. He argued that he can't act until a formal decision is made about the contentious issue of whether Trump's executive privilege is relevant. The reasoning behind this is that Bannon's possible communications with the former leader and other officials might be protected. The committee rejected this explanation but he's still holding firm. It'll ultimately be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to determine whether to prosecute Bannon on such charges. Observers are unsure if that'll happen, however, especially considering questions about whether any decision to go forward in this respect might have been unduly influenced by incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden.

The American leader publicly shared his position last week that Bannon should indeed be charged with contempt, which prompted Garland's spokesman to push back by reaffirming the Department of Justice's independence. Most Democrats believe that Biden had the right to share his personal opinion while their opponents suspect that he was trying to send a political message to the judicial branch of government. That controversy and the question of charging Bannon for contempt show how partisan this process has become.

On that topic, some words deserve to be said about the January 6 investigations. Hundreds of Trump supporters broke the law by storming Congress, but it remains unclear whether they were motivated by "insurrection" like the mainstream media has popularly claimed. Trump also denied that he and his circle had anything to do with what happened, defending his rally right before that infamous incident as little more than a pep talk intended to raise awareness of his suspicion that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud.

With this backdrop in mind, the investigation isn't just intended to bring accountability to lawbreakers potentially including Trump and his circle, nor to achieve maximum clarity about the confusing course of events that transpired on that fateful day, but it also aims to defend the legitimacy of Biden's presidency. From the Democrats' perspective, even if the chaos of that day was unplanned, they're compelled to make an example out of prominent figures like Bannon, otherwise they risk lending credence to Trump's claims of fraud.

Simply sitting back and passively acknowledging that it all might have just been an unexpected turn of events could also embolden a repeat of that incident sometime in the future, not to mention making it possible for actual insurrectionists to move forward with their potential plans. This wasn't a dilemma for the Democrats though, since they stand to politically gain by pushing their investigation forward regardless of whether some might believe that it's unwarranted or excessive.

The ruling party saw a convenient opportunity to forever associate the opposition with "insurrection" and even what some have described as "domestic terrorism" to preemptively thwart their electoral prospects ahead of next year's midterms and beyond. Bannon is a prominent enough figure that his proverbial scalp could potentially serve the purpose of deterring moderate voters from siding with the Republicans as a protest vote against the Democrats, even if he's only charged with contempt but not convicted.

Biden's popularity has plummeted in recent weeks due to his extremely controversial vaccination mandate, foreign policy failures such as surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban ahead of America's withdrawal from that country in August, and the supply chain crisis. The January 6 investigation conveniently distracts from that by reminding Americans of the Democrats' claims over the past years that the Republicans are an "anti-American party" that can't be trusted, especially not after their allegedly "insurrectionist" intentions earlier this year.

All that's important from their perspective is advancing the politically self-interested narrative that those in Trump's inner circle might have organized the unrest to an uncertain extent, hence Bannon's contempt of Congress which they'd spin as implying that he had something to hide. Of course, it would be best if their investigation was only about justice, but America's present partisan divisions are unprecedented so it's unrealistic to assume that this process lacks any political dimension no matter how much many wish that it did.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)