Peter Navarro was found guilty of contempt of Congress
President Donald Trump's former adviser, Peter Navarro, was found guilty of contempt of Congress and will stand trial on Tuesday on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress after refusing to testify or provide documents for a U.S. congressional investigation into the attack on the Capitol.
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| Peter Navarro, an advisor to former President Donald Trump, arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse on September 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) |
Navarro, a hardline Chinese figure who has long been a Republican adviser to Trump on trade issues and also served on a COVID-19 task force, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Peter Navarro could potentially face a minimum sentence of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison
Jury selection will begin on Tuesday in the trial. It is unclear exactly when the opening statement will take place.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack wanted to ask him about the "Green Bay Sweep" plan to delay Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory, which Navarro later detailed in a book he wrote afterward. left the White House.
The committee finally released the findings of its investigation in December 2022 without having time to interview Navarro.
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Earlier this year, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump criminally for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, which Trump falsely claimed was the result of fraud.
Navarro stated that his refusal to testify or provide documents requested by a Congressional subpoena was triggered by Trump's request for executive privilege, a legal doctrine that protects certain White House communications from disclosure.
He was unable to get Trump to testify and showed only one letter written by Trump's lawyers after Navarro's indictment that claimed Navarro had an obligation to obtain privileges.
At the Aug. 28 hearing, Navarro testified that Trump stated "very clearly" that he should not testify before Congress in a phone call made 11 days after he received the committee's subpoena in February 2022.
He said this message had been conveyed to the committee.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over the trial, questioned why Navarro could not articulate exactly what Trump said in the call.
"I still don't know what the president said," Mehta said at an Aug. 28 hearing, adding that the evidence supporting Navarro's claim was "very weak material."
He ultimately denied Navarro's request to cite his phone call as evidence during the trial that Trump used the privilege, and found Navarro failed to provide adequate details about the substance of the call.
Mehta also found that although Navarro believed he was immune to testifying, he still had to appear before the committee in response to a subpoena.
Each contempt charge Navarro faces could potentially carry a minimum sentence of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison, as well as a fine of up to $100,000.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who left the White House long before the Jan. 6 attack, was convicted on contempt charges for defying a Congressional subpoena before the same committee in July 2022.
He was sentenced to 4 months in prison in October, but his sentence was postponed pending appeal and has not been finalized.