Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Peter Navarro Ordered to Begin Serving Prison Term for Jan. 6 Contempt

A federal judge has rejected a request by former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro to be allowed to stay out of prison while he appeals a conviction for contempt of Congress.

Mr. Navarro was charged with contempt of Congress after defying a pair of subpoenas from the now-disbanded House committee that investigated the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which was controlled at the time by Democrats. He was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced last month to serve concurrent four-month prison terms.

The former adviser argued throughout the subpoena process, at trial, and again in his appeal that he had a good faith belief that testifying before Congress would have conflicted with President Donald Trump’s executive privilege. On Thursday, Judge Ahmit Meta of the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. ruled that there is no “substantial question of law” for which Mr. Navarro warrants remaining out of prison.

Mr. Navarro’s legal team has argued that the questions he raised about executive privilege meet the major questions doctrine of legal interpretation. This doctrine states that courts should rely on relevant executive branch agencies to resolve significant regulatory policy questions.

Judge Mehta had rejected Mr. Navarro’s privilege claims earlier in the case, stating that during his trial, Mr. Navarro’s team never presented evidence that President Trump asserted a privilege claim over his testimony. Mr. Navarro had claimed President Trump had asserted his privilege verbally in a February 2022 phone call, but Judge Mehta ruled that he had “not carried his burden of establishing a formal claim of privilege from President Trump.”

In his Thursday ruling, Judge Mehta acknowledged that the exact requirements to invoke executive privilege properly remains an open question before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals but said, “After over a year of litigation, Defendant still has not offered what he thinks is required for a proper invocation of executive privilege.”

Judge Rejects Political Bias Argument

In addition to rejecting Mr. Navarro’s arguments about executive privilege, Judge Mehta also rejected the argument made by Navarro’s team during sentencing that his prosecution for contempt of Congress was motivated by political bias.

Mr. Navarro has argued that there was political bias in his case. He noted that three assistant U.S. attorneys who had organized a letter to then-Attorney General Bill Barr challenging allegations of fraud in the 2020 election ended up on the same prosecution team that investigated and charged him.

According to Mr. Navarro’s legal team, prosecutors injected an improper bias into his trial. They argued that this was done when the prosecutors associated his prosecution with the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th, 2021. Additionally, Mr. Navarro’s legal team claimed that the prosecutors continued to cast doubt on his case during the trial by insinuating that it had to do with a refusal to honor the historic U.S. tradition of a peaceful transfer of power.

Judge Mehta ruled Mr. Navarro’s legal team “offers no actual proof to support” their contention that political bias motivated the prosecution. Further, the federal judge argued that the record reflects the opposite of political bias because the Department of Justice had declined to prosecute two other former Trump advisors—former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino—for contempt of Congress.

“Defendant’s cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a ’substantial’ one,” Judge Mehta wrote.

Navarro Could Appeal Conviction Up to SCOTUS

In an interview with NTD’s “Capitol Report” last month, Mr. Navarro expressed his belief that his questions about executive privilege could eventually become an issue for the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve.

Mr. Navarro said after he first raised the issue of executive privilege to the Jan. 6 committee, the committee should have reached out to President Trump to clear up any dispute over his privilege claims rather than proceed instead with moving to consider him in contempt and requesting his prosecution by the DOJ.

“I was more than happy to comply with that subpoena if they simply called the president and asked for a waiver of the privilege,” Mr. Navarro said at the time. “And I think it tells the lie, in this whole case, that they never made one phone call, they never lifted a finger to call him to get the information they claimed they needed to have. Had they made that one phone call, we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

It remains to be seen how Mr. Navarro’s efforts to appeal his criminal conviction will play out. Whether he should remain out of prison during the appeal process is being treated as a separate issue for the court. In his Thursday ruling, Judge Mehta said unless the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacates his ruling, Mr. Navarro shall report to prison on time.

READ 35 COMMENTS
  • Sarg says:

    I guess now they will come after all who voted for Trump!

  • Gary says:

    This country is run by BIDENS PUPPET MASTERS ALONG WITH SHADOW DEEP STATE BILLIONAIRES!!
    They ARE ALL TRAITORS TO OUR PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!! They have made a DOUBLE STANDARD JUSTICE! The CHRISTEN,CONSERVATIVE VOTERS ARE BEING PUT INTO JAIL AND THE HUNTER BIDENS OF THE PRESIDENTS ADMINISTRATION AND THE EVIL DEMOCRATS AND RINOS GET SLAPPED ON THEIR HANDS FOR MUCH MORE WORSE CRIMES! They all are TRAITORS TO THIS COUNTRY AND I HOPE THEY ARE CHARGED AND INDICTED AND CONVICTED THEN PUT IN JAIL AT GETMO AND THROW AWAY THE KEYS!! That is what should be done but I won’t hold my breath!!
    COME ELECTION DAY VOTE FOR AMERICA FIRST NOT NEW WORLD ORDER DEEP STATE TRAITORS!!! WE ARE THE LAST FREE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AND WE NEED TO TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK FROM EVIL POLITICIANS!!!! IF NWO WINS THE WORLD AND US LOSE!!! At this point I really think THERE IS NO INTELLIGENT LIFE FORM ON THIS WORLD THERE ARE ONLY Spoiled Children in CHARGE OF ALL THE WORLD!!
    That needs to change!!

  • Barbara says:

    THEN HUNTER BIDEN SHOULD GO JAIL TOO. WHATS GOOD FOR ONE IS GOOD FOR THE OTHER

  • Mario Lozano says:

    Truth is treasonous in an empire of lies!

  • Steven Graziano says:

    I can’t wait for Trump to get back into office and give all of these corrupt DEMONcrats what they deserve!!!

  • TOP STORIES

    News

    Former President Jimmy Carter was wheeled outside to watch a military flyover in his backyard in Plains, Georgia to celebrate his 100th birthday on...

    News

    In election years, October is often known, quite infamously, for its “surprises.” The campaign for Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris can’t...

    News

    Sean “Diddy” Combs’ White Parties in the Hamptons were not known for being family friendly; something Justin Litovsky, now 30, rapidly found out when...

    News

    Police officers responding to the scene at a New York City subway station where a homeless man who’d been placed in a chokehold by...

    >