Trump White Home official Peter Navarro, who was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced on Thursday to 4 months behind bars.
He was the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress expenses. Former White Home adviser Steve Bannon beforehand obtained a four-month sentence however is free pending enchantment.
Navarro was discovered responsible of defying a subpoena for paperwork and a deposition from the Home Jan. 6 committee. He served as a White Home commerce adviser beneath then-President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud within the 2020 election he misplaced to Democrat Joe Biden.
U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta informed Navarro that it took “chutzpah” for him to claim that he accepted duty for his actions whereas additionally suggesting that his prosecution was politically motivated.
“You aren’t a sufferer. You aren’t the thing of a political prosecution,” the decide mentioned. “These are circumstances of your individual making.”
Navarro’s attorneys filed a discover that he’s interesting his conviction and sentence.
Navarro has mentioned he couldn’t cooperate with the committee as a result of Trump had invoked government privilege. The decide barred him from making that argument at trial, nevertheless, discovering that he didn’t present Trump had truly invoked it.
Navarro mentioned in courtroom earlier than his sentencing Thursday that the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault had led him to consider that it accepted his invocation of government privilege.
“No person in my place needs to be put in battle between the legislative department and the chief department,” he informed the decide.
Mehta mentioned that asserting government privilege will not be “magic mud to keep away from an obligation.”
“It’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” the decide added.
A federal prosecutor, John Crabb Jr., informed the decide that the Justice Division enforces the regulation “with out worry, favor or political affect.”
“It is a righteous prosecution,” Crabb mentioned.
Greater than 1,200 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Greater than 100 law enforcement officials have been injured throughout clashes with the mob of Trump supporters who disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Biden’s victory over Trump.
The Home committee spent 18 months investigating the rebel, interviewing over 1,000 witnesses, holding 10 hearings and acquiring greater than 1 million pages of paperwork. In its last report, the panel finally concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the election outcomes and did not act to cease his supporters from storming the Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chaired the Home committee, mentioned Navarro abused the general public belief within the days main as much as the Jan. 6 assault and once more when he defied the subpoena to reply questions on it.
“Final summer season’s responsible verdict and at this time’s sentence are the consequence of Mr. Navarro’s cussed insistence that his quick stint within the Govt Department by some means put him above the regulation,” Thompson mentioned in an announcement.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied doing something improper.
Navarro’s attorneys had suggested him to not deal with the decide on Thursday, however he mentioned he wished to talk after listening to the decide specific disappointment in him. Responding to a query about why he didn’t initially search a lawyer’s counsel, he informed the decide, “I didn’t know what to do, sir.”
The decide mentioned Navarro ought to have identified how to reply to a subpoena from the Home committee as a result of he obtained one a number of weeks after Bannon was charged with felony contempt of Congress.
“I do know you assume it’s a political hatchet job,” Mehta informed Navarro. “(The Home committee) had a job to do, and also you made it more durable. It’s actually that easy.”
The decide is permitting Navarro’s protection to submit a written transient on the query of permitting him to stay free pending enchantment.
Justice Division prosecutors mentioned Navarro tried to “cover behind claims of privilege” even earlier than he knew what the committee wished, exhibiting a “disdain” for the committee that ought to warrant an extended sentence. Prosecutors had requested a decide to condemn him to 6 months behind bars and impose a $200,000 positive.
Protection attorneys mentioned Trump did declare government privilege, placing Navarro in an “untenable place,” they usually had requested for a sentence of probation and a $100 positive.
The decide ordered Navarro to pay a $9,500 positive.
Protection legal professional Stanley Woodward mentioned Navarro believed that he was “responsibility certain” to claim government privilege.
“He needn’t be punished to show some extent,” Woodward informed the decide.
Bannon, who additionally made executive-privilege arguments, was convicted of two counts.
Navarro’s sentencing comes after a decide rejected his bid for a brand new trial. His attorneys had argued that jurors could have been improperly influenced by political protesters outdoors the courthouse once they took a break from deliberations. Shortly after their break, the jurors discovered Navarro responsible of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress.
However the decide discovered that Navarro didn’t present that the eight-minute break had any impact on the September verdict. He discovered no protest was underway and nobody approached the jurors — they interacted solely with one another and the courtroom officer assigned to accompany them.
© 2024 The Canadian Press