Navarro becomes first Trump White House official to report to prison over Jan. 6

Former presidential aide Peter Navarro will begin a four-month prison sentence Tuesday afternoon for failing to respond to a Congressional subpoena in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in Miami. He turned himself in to prison.

“They could put me in jail. They could put me in jail,” Navarro said at a news conference in the parking lot Tuesday, shortly before reporting to the facility. “Don’t get me wrong about that, and don’t get me wrong about this. They’re going after Donald Trump with the same tactics, means, strategies that got me there today.”

“If they’re coming for me, they’re coming for you,” he told reporters.

Mr. Navarro’s last-ditch effort to remain free while appealing his contempt of Congress conviction was rejected Monday night by Chief Justice John Roberts in a rare “in-court” opinion. This is a written explanation of the judgment in a case that he did not refer. It will be sent to the Grand Chamber for consideration.

Roberts cited the Court of Appeals’ decision to argue that Trump’s presidential privilege was not invoked by the president after the former economic adviser rejected Navarro’s motion to challenge the district court’s conclusion. , said it had denied Navarro’s application.

“We see no basis for agreeing with the finding that Mr. Navarro waived these claims in the release process, which is separate from the pending appeal on the merits,” Roberts wrote.

Mr. Roberts accepted Mr. Navarro’s offer to avoid prison because he handles urgent matters arising from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Mr. Navarro, 74, was found guilty last year on two counts of contempt of Congress. One charge is for failing to provide documents related to the investigation, and the other is for failing to take a deposition before the House of Representatives select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6 attack. Houses of Parliament.

At trial, a district judge barred him from invoking executive privilege as part of his defense, saying he couldn’t prove that privilege was invoked by former President Trump.

The defense said the decision “hindered” the defense, and Navarro told the judge during his sentencing hearing that he “honestly believes” presidential privilege had been invoked.

“This is a partisan weaponization of our judicial system,” Navarro said Tuesday, slamming the district judge and appellate court judge who oversaw his case as “Democrats from start to finish.”

Like Navarro, former White House adviser Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison, but another judge ruled he was freed pending his appeal. He said that there is a possibility that Mr. Bannon argued in a federal appeals court in November, but he has not yet served any time in prison.

Asked whether he had spoken to President Trump before going to prison, Navarro joked to reporters that he would claim “executive privilege” on that question as well, but added, “Donald Trump and his team… He said he is receiving the utmost support from the government.

Navarro said he does not want a pardon from Trump or President Biden if he is re-elected and said he still expects his case to be decided by the Supreme Court on its merits.

“I’m asking the Supreme Court to do this,” Navarro said of his appeal. “But the tragedy here is that I have not been released on appeal, so I will have done my time before my release ends.

“But that’s the price of living now in Joe Biden’s America,” he added. “God bless you. See you on the other side.”