Former Trump official Navarro indicted
WASHINGTON — Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was indicted Friday on contempt charges after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro is former President Donald Trump’s second aide to be charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation.
His arrest comes months after the indictment of former White House adviser Steve Bannon.
Navarro, 72, was charged with one contempt count for failing to appear for a deposition before the House committee and a second charge for failing to produce documents the committee requested.
During an initial court appearance on Friday, Navarro alleged that the Justice Department had committed “prosecutorial misconduct” and said that he was told he could not contact anyone after he was approached by an FBI agent at the airport on Friday and put in handcuffs. He said he was arrested while trying to board a flight to Nashville, Tenn., for a television appearance.
“Who are these people? This is not America,” Navarro said. “I was a distinguished public servant for four years!”
During the hearing, he said the House committee was a “sham committee” and that prosecutors were “playing hardball” and were “despicable.” If convicted, each charge carries a minimum sentence of a month in jail and a maximum of a year behind bars.
The indictment underscores that the Justice Department is continuing to pursue criminal charges against Trump associates who have attempted to impede or stonewall the work of congressional investigators examining the most significant attack on U.S. democracy in decades.
The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland have faced pressure to move more quickly to decide whether to prosecute other Trump aides who
have similarly defied subpoenas from the House panel.
The indictment alleges that Navarro, when summoned to appear before the committee for a deposition, refused to do so and instead told the panel that because Trump had invoked executive privilege, “my hands are tied.”
After committee staff told him they believed there were topics he could discuss without raising any executive privilege concerns, Navarro again refused, directing the committee to negotiate directly with lawyers for Trump, according to the indictment. The committee went ahead with its scheduled deposition on March 2, but Navarro did not attend.
The indictment came days after Navarro revealed in a court filing that he also had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this week as part of the Justice Department’s sprawling probe into the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.