Washington — Peter Navarro, a former Trump White Home official who oversaw a lot of the administration’s commerce coverage, is ready to be sentenced Thursday on two prices of contempt of Congress stemming from his refusal to adjust to a subpoena associated to his actions after the 2020 election.
In 2022, Navarro defied a subpoena for information and testimony from the now-defunct Home choose committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Navarro after a brief trial in September 2023.
U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta will hand down the sentence at a listening to in federal court docket in Washington at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Prosecutors have requested Mehta to impose a jail sentence of six months and a wonderful of $600,000.
The Navarro subpoena
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In February 2022, congressional investigators had been focused on Navarro’s efforts to formulate a plan to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election outcomes from his submit within the Trump White Home. The Jan. 6 committee issued a subpoena searching for information and testimony, with its chairman saying Navarro ”seems to have data immediately related to the Choose Committee’s investigation.”
Navarro refused to conform, claiming former President Donald Trump had asserted govt privilege over the fabric sought by the committee. President Biden and the White Home Counsel’s Workplace declined to invoke the privilege to defend Navarro from the congressional subpoena.
The Home, managed by Democrats, voted to carry him in contempt and referred the matter to the Justice Division for prosecution. The U.S. lawyer in Washington then criminally charged him with two counts of contempt.
Prosecutors alleged throughout the one-day trial final yr that Navarro ”acted like he was above the legislation” when he didn’t adjust to the committee’s request. His attorneys unsuccessfully urged Mehta, the choose, to permit Navarro to argue that Trump instructed him to assert govt privilege and deny the congressional request.
In an evidentiary listening to on the chief privilege matter earlier than trial, Navarro advised Mehta it was ”clear” Trump invoked the safety in a 2022 telephone name. The choose, nonetheless, was unconvinced and barred that protection, saying there was no proof that any official assertion was made. Navarro finally didn’t take the stand in his personal protection.
Navarro’s protection attorneys have indicated they are going to enchantment the conviction based mostly on Mehta’s ruling. Any sentence the choose imposes on Thursday is prone to be delayed because the appeals course of strikes ahead.
Of their pre-sentencing memo, prosecutors advised the court docket that Navarro ”cloaked his bad-faith technique of defiance and contempt behind baseless, unfounded invocations of govt privilege and immunity that would not and would by no means apply to his scenario.”
They alleged Navarro ”selected allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of legislation” when he opted to not present up for a scheduled deposition or hand over the paperwork requested by the Jan. 6 committee.
Navarro, they argued, didn’t talk with committee workers ”in any means” and ought to be held accountable for his unresponsiveness.
His protection workforce, nonetheless, argued the matter earlier than the court docket was not that easy, claiming the case handled ”novel problems with first impression.” His attorneys urged Mehta to impose a interval of six months of probation for every depend and a $200 wonderful.
”Dr. Navarro acted as a result of he moderately believed he was duty-bound to say govt privilege on former President Trump’s behalf,” Navarro’s protection workforce wrote. They argued that Mehta himself had mentioned in previous court docket hearings that Navarro possible not less than thought he was protected by privilege.
Navarro is the second Trump ally to be convicted for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Steve Bannon was discovered responsible in 2022 of the identical two counts after he didn’t adjust to a subpoena. He was sentenced to 4 months in jail, however a federal choose suspended the sentence to permit his enchantment to maneuver ahead.
In court docket paperwork, Navarro’s authorized workforce labored to tell apart his case from Bannon’s, arguing the congressional requests at difficulty in that case had been largely associated to Bannon’s work after he left the Trump White Home, complicating any privilege claims.
However prosecutors mentioned Bannon, in contrast to Navarro, ”engaged” with the committee by way of an lawyer and ”not less than recommended that beneath sure circumstances he may adjust to the obligations of the subpoena he acquired.” Navarro advised the committee he wouldn’t adjust to the committee’s request due to the purported privilege.