Federal prosecutors on January 6 accused former Trump aide Peter Navarro of defying a subpoena from the House Elections Committee and choosing “loyalty to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.” He is seeking six months in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi made the argument in a sentencing memo filed Thursday night. Obtained by Politico.
Navarro was found guilty in September of two counts of contempt of Congress, and sentencing is scheduled for next week.
Aloy claimed that Navarro “flouted and disobeyed the authority of Congress” after receiving a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“He hid a malicious strategy of defiance and contempt behind baseless and baseless invocations of executive privilege and immunity that cannot and will never apply to his situation,” the memo said. is written.
“…Defendants, like the Capitol rioters, put politics first, not country, and obstructed Congress' investigations,” the memo also said. “Even though the defendant was advised that executive privilege would not excuse his default, he chose loyalty to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”
The Fed argued that Navarro should be suspended for six months and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine.
Former Trump aides tried to mount a defense focused on arguing that executive privilege was invoked by the 45th president to protect him from subpoenas, but U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected that claim during a trial last year.
After the conviction, Navarro said he was not surprised by the sentence, as Mehta rejected the possibility of a defense.
Politico reported that in their sentencing memo, Navarro's lawyers recommended a lenient sentence of up to six months of probation for each charge, given the complex laws and case law surrounding executive privilege for White House advisers. He argued that it should be dismissed.
“Dr. Navarro's actions did not stem from a disregard for the law, nor did they stem from a belief that he was above the law,” his lawyers argued in the memo.
“Rather, Dr. Navarro acted because he reasonably believed he had an obligation to assert executive privilege on behalf of former President Trump.”
Navarro is the second Trump aide to be indicted for refusing to appear before Congress. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was found guilty on two charges and sentenced to four months in prison, but is currently free pending appeal.
Other former Trump officials, including former communications chief Dan Scavino and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, were referred to the Justice Department for possible contempt charges, but were ultimately not indicted.
