Trump White House official Peter Navarro jailed for not going to Jan. 6 hearing
Peter Navarro, a former White House official under Donald Trump, has been imprisoned after refusing to cooperate with a House investigation of the Jan 6 Capitol riots.
Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress last September after he failed to cooperate with the investigation into the infamous attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing Trump supporters. He now faces a four-month stretch behind bars, after being sentenced today (January 25) at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington D.C.
The 74-year-old is the second of Trump’s aides to face charges for contempt of Congress, following in the footsteps of disgraced White House adviser Steve Bannon. Navarro refused to provide documents requested by by the House Jan. 6 committee, for which he was found guilty.
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Trump's former adviser appealed his conviction to no avail (Getty Images)Navarro was one of those who promoted the former president’s deluded claims about mass voter fraud following the 2020 election loss to President Biden. He served a stretch working as a White House trade adviser under Trump, before he was ousted in disgrace and accused of inciting the riot on Capitol.
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The Massachusetts-born adviser previously said he would appeal the verdict and claims he was unable to cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege - when a president orders a branch of government to withhold information in the public interest. But a judge barred him from making that argument at trial after finding that he couldn’t prove that Trump had actually invoked the privilege, the Associated Press reported.
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Navarro said before his sentencing on Thursday that the House committee had suggested to him it would accept his plea of executive privilege, pleading with the judge: “Nobody in my position should be put in conflict between the legislative branch and the executive branch.” But the judge dismissed him, stating it took “chutzpah” for him to claim he accepts responsibility for his actions while arguing his prosecution was politically motivated.
The sentencing comes as Trump continues his seemingly-unstoppable run for selection as the Republican's presidential nominee (AFP via Getty Images)“You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution,” the judge said in scathing remarks. “These are circumstances of your own making." Despite being warned by his lawyers not to address the judge, Navarro spoke up after hearing the judge's disappointment in him. When asked why he didn’t seek advice from a lawyer earlier on in the case, Navarro said: “I didn’t know what to do, sir.”
Navarro will be allowed to submit a request to remain free pending an appeal against the sentence. But prosecutors for the Justice Department argue the adviser, who unsuccessfully ran for office five times in California, was trying to “hide behind claims of privilege” before he even know what the committee wanted.
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Navarro was seen walking into the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse to receive his sentencing earlier today (Getty Images)They argue this shows enough “disdain” for the committee that he should in fact face a longer sentence, initially requested a 6-month prison term alongside a $200,000 fine. Defense attorneys for Navarro requested just a probation sentence alongside a $100 fine, arguing that Trump did claim executive privilege leaving Navarro in an “untenable position”.
Navarro also made a bid for a new trial, with his attorneys arguing jurors had been influenced by political protestors stationed outside the courthouse which they had encountered during a break from deliberations. After the break, jurors found Navarro guilty of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress.
But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected the request, ruling that Navarro couldn’t show enough to suggest that the eight-minute break in deliberations had an effect on September’s verdict. Judge Mehta found that no protest was underway at the time and no one approached the jurors, who spoke only with each other and the court officer designated to them.
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