The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former White House official sentenced to 4 months in jail for contempt of Congress
Trump White House official Peter Navarro, convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol, was sentenced Thursday to four months behind bars.
He was the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress charges. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four- month sentence but is free pending appeal.
Navarro, 74, was found guilty of defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee. He served as a White House trade adviser under then- President Donald Trump and later promoted the baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election that Trump lost to Joe Biden.
U. S. District Judge Amit Mehta told Navarro it took “chutzpah” for him to assert he accepted responsibility for his actions while also suggesting his prosecution was politically motivated. “You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution,” the judge said. “These are circumstances of your own making.”
Navarro’s attorneys filed a notice he is appealing his conviction and sentence.
Navarro has said he couldn’t cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. The judge barred him from making that argument at trial, though, finding he didn’t show Trump had actually invoked it.
Navarro said in court before his sentencing the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack had led him to believe it accepted his invocation of executive privilege. “Nobody in my position should be put in conflict between the legislative branch and the executive branch,” he told the judge.
Mehta said asserting executive privilege is not “magic dust to avoid a duty.”
“It’s not a get- out- of- jail- free card,” the judge said.
A federal prosecutor, John Crabb Jr., told the judge the Justice Department enforces the law “without fear, favor or political influence.”
More than 1,200 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. More than 100 police officers were injured during clashes with the mob of Trump supporters who disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Biden’s victory over Trump.