Former Trump advisor indicted on contempt charges
Peter Navarro defied a Jan. 6 panel subpoena. But Mark Meadows won’t be prosecuted.
WASHINGTON — Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was indicted on charges that he refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the Justice Department spared two other advisors, including the ex-president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, from criminal prosecution.
The department’s decision to not prosecute Meadows and Dan Scavino, another advisor to former President Trump, was revealed in a letter sent Friday by a federal prosecutor to a lawyer for the House of Representatives. The move was reported hours after the indictment of Navarro and a subsequent, fiery court appearance in which he vowed to contest the contempt of Congress charges.
The flurry of activity comes just days before the House committee leading the investigation into the riot at the Capitol holds a prime-time hearing aimed at presenting the American public with evidence it has collected about how the assault unfolded.
The split decisions show how the Justice Department has opted to evaluate on a case-by-case basis contempt referrals it has received from Congress rather than automatically pursue charges against each and every Trump aide who has resisted congressional subpoenas.
The committee’s leaders called the decision to not prosecute Meadows and Scavino “puzzling.” In a statement late Friday, Reps. Bennie Thompson (DMiss.) and Liz Cheney (RWyo.), said: “We hope the department provides greater clarity on this matter . ... No one is above the law.”
Though the Justice Department has referred multiple Trump aides for potential prosecution for refusal to cooperate, Navarro is only the second to face criminal charges, following the indictment last fall of former White House advisor Stephen K. 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 Friday, Navarro alleged that the Justice Department had committed “prosecutorial misconduct” and said 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 for a TV appearance.
“Who are these people? This is not America,” Navarro said. “I was a distinguished public servant for four years!”
Each charge carries a minimum sentence of a month in jail and a maximum of a year behind bars.
The Justice Department and Atty. Gen. 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 New York Times first reported on the decision to not charge Meadows and Scavino. A person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed it to the Associated Press on Friday. The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which made the decisions regarding each of the Trump aides, declined to comment Friday.
Meadows, a close Trump advisor seen by House investigators as a vital witness to key events, initially cooperated with the committee, turning over more than 2,000 text messages sent and received in the days leading up to the attack and on Jan. 6. But in December, Meadows informed the committee that he would not sit for a deposition. Scavino was held in contempt in April after declining to cooperate with Congress.
A lawyer for Meadows did not immediately return messages Friday night. Stan Brand, an attorney representing Scavino, said he had not yet received the letter from the U.S. attorney’s office, but he’d heard the news through a third party. “I’m grateful that the Justice Department exercised their discretion to decline prosecution,” Brand said.
The indictment against Navarro alleges that when summoned to appear before the committee for a deposition, he 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.