Navarro summoned to Jan. 6 grand jury
Order is 1st issued to Trump insiders
WASHINGTON— Former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro revealed in a court filing Tuesday afternoon that he has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this week as part of the Justice Department’s sprawling probe into the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro, 72, said he was served last week by the FBI at his Washington, D.C., house. The subpoena is the first known instance of prosecutors seeking testimony from someone who worked in the Trump White House as they investigate the insurrection.
In an 88-page filing, Navarro claims the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack is unlawful and therefore a subpoena it issued to him in February is unenforceable under law. He filed the suit Tuesday against members of the committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the U.S. attorney for D.C., Matthew Graves.
In a Tuesday interview with The Associated Press, Navarro said the goal of his lawsuit is much broader than the subpoenas themselves, part of an effort to have “the Supreme Court address a number of issues that have come with the weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers” since Trump came to office.
He said he will formally respond today to the federal subpoena.
A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The subpoena from federal prosecutors comes months after Navarro, a former economics professor, received a congressional subpoena from lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Members of the select committee sought testimony from Navarro about his public efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the election, including a call after the 2020 presidential election persuading state legislators to join their efforts.
Navarro was one of the White House staffers who promoted Trump’s claims of voter fraud. He released a report in December 2020 that he claimed contained evidence of the alleged misconduct.
He has refused to cooperate with the committee. He and fellow Trump adviser Dan Scavino were found in contempt of Congress in April.
Members of the committee made their case at the time that Scavino and Navarro were among just a handful of people who had rebuffed the committee’s requests and subpoenas for information.
The committee investigating the Capitol attack is not the only group of lawmakers that have sought Navarro’s compliance. A House subcommittee set up to investigate the Trump administration’s response to covid-19 also subpoenaed him in November. He denied their request, citing a “direct order” from the former president to claim executive privilege.