Former President Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro is required to report to prison after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to avoid a prison sentence on appeal for contempt of Congress.
Navarro was convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to four months in federal prison for failing to comply with document subpoenas and depositions from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack. He is scheduled to report to a prison in Miami for further investigation.
He asked to be released while he appeals his conviction. Navarro’s attorney declined to comment on the matter to Fox News Digital.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said there was “no basis to disagree” with the appeals court’s decision to start the sentence.
Justice Department recommends six months in prison for Trump aide Peter Navarro
Former Trump staffer Peter Navarro speaks to the media as he arrives at the federal courthouse in Washington, Thursday, January 25, 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to suspend his sentence. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Navarro, a former trade adviser to former President Donald Trump, is the second Trump aide to be found guilty of contempt of Congress. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was previously sentenced to four months in prison, but his release was granted on appeal by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Trump.
Navarro said he could not cooperate with the commission investigating the January 6 attack because Trump had invoked executive privilege, an argument that lower courts have rejected.
Former Trump aide Navarro found guilty of contempt for defying President Trump in January 6 subpoenas
Former President Donald Trump’s adviser Peter Navarro, who was found guilty of contempt of Congress, spoke to reporters while surrounded by demonstrators. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“When I received the second Congressional subpoena, I honestly believed that privilege had been invoked, but my heart was torn apart. “You shouldn’t. Is that the lesson?” Mr. Navarro said at his sentencing hearing in January. “What do you think about this whole case? Letters and getting a lawyer? In a way, I think so.” “I am disappointed in the process by which the jury convicted me and failed to provide one of the most important elements of our justice system: advocacy.”
He described the storming of the Capitol as “one of the worst days of my life.”
House-selected members investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol vote on contempt charges against former President Donald Trump’s advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino at the Capitol on Monday, March 28, 2022. When the Society is meeting, images and videos are shown on the screen.in washington d.c. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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The lower court found that Mr. Navarro could not actually prove that Mr. Trump invoked executive privilege.
The high court is also preparing to hear arguments about whether Trump has presidential immunity for his own charges of interfering in the 2020 election.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
