President Trump’s former trade adviser Peter Navarro has been ordered to report to federal prison on March 19 to complete a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.
Navarro’s lawyers renewed their request in a filing late Sunday that the sentence be put on hold while the 74-year-old continues his final appeal against his conviction.
“Navarro is now ordered to report to the FCI Miami Bureau of Prisons by 2:00 p.m. EDT on March 19, 2024.” This was announced by his lawyer Stanley Woodward. said in a filing with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If the court does not grant Navarro’s request for a stay, he will face charges related to the 45th president’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat by former Vice President He becomes the first high-ranking House official to be imprisoned. Biden.
Navarro is accused of ignoring subpoenas for depositions and documents from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
As a result, Congress held him in contempt, and the Justice Department later prosecuted him. Mr. Navarro fired back, arguing that executive privilege was an impediment to cooperation.
Navarro was found guilty on September 7th of two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced on January 25th.
The former White House official insisted on his conviction at every turn, and “an approximately eight-minute outdoor recess in John Marshall Park adjacent to the courthouse” led to the jury being tainted by nearby protesters. He once argued that there was a possibility that it could have happened, but it was unsuccessful.
Mr. Navarro requested a new trial, but Chief U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta rejected that argument, concluding that there was no evidence that Mr. Navarro was subject to executive privilege.
Mehta also refused to put the judgment on hold pending Navarro’s appeal, prompting Woodward to petition the D.C. Court of Appeals.
“Mr. Navarro’s objection to the district court’s decision regarding executive privilege and/or preventing Dr. Navarro from asserting executive privilege as a defense attorney at trial could very well be decided otherwise. “This is a complex issue rife with certain ‘serious questions’ or ‘doubts,'” Woodward argued.
“United States v. Peter Navarro ultimately determines whether the constitutional separation of powers will be upheld, whether executive privilege will continue to exist as a bulwark against partisan attacks by the legislature, and whether executive privilege will remain. “This is a landmark constitutional case to determine whether or not the United States is an important tool for effective presidential decision-making, as pioneered by President George Washington,” Navarro told the Post in a statement Monday. .
“It’s worth fighting for on behalf of all Americans.”
In addition to Navarro, Congress nominated former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
In the end, the Justice Department declined to press charges against Mr. Scavino and Mr. Meadows, but went after Mr. Bannon, who was not part of the Trump administration at the time of the riot but claimed executive privilege anyway.
Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt in 2022 and sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay a $6,500 fine. He appealed that conviction.
Separately, Navarro is fighting a civil lawsuit from the Justice Department over records that he says did not return to the National Archives and Records Administration after leaving the White House.
