Former Trump Advisor Peter Navarro Found Guilty of Contempt of Congress by DC Jury

On Thursday, former Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro was found guilty of contempt of Congress.

According to The Hill, the jury deliberation lasted around five hours. The trial began on Tuesday.

Navarro faced two counts of contempt of Congress that were handed down by a grand jury in June of 2022 for allegedly not complying with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee on January 6.

Shortly after the verdict was read, Navarro’s lawyer, Stan Woodward, called for a mistrial, claiming that jurors had gone outside during their break and were exposed to protestors holding January 6-related signs.

Prosecutors said they didn’t see any protestors outside the exit the jurors reportedly used.

US District Judge Amit Mehta said he would not rule on a mistrial until evidence was produced, which the defense said they were collecting.

Jurors had to rule whether prosecutors proved four elements: that Navarro was subpoenaed, the information the committee sought was pertinent to the investigation, that Navarro failed to comply with the subpoena, and that the failure to comply was “willful.”

During closing arguments, Woodward said that the government showed no evidence as to where Navarro was the day his deposition was set to take place, saying that this left room for reasonable doubt that he didn’t “willfully” ignore the subpoena.”