Peter Navarro, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, has been convicted of contempt of Congress charges for refusing to cooperate with a House investigation into the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots. Navarro is the second Trump aide to face such charges, following Steve Bannon, who was convicted of two counts and sentenced to four months in prison (pending appeal).
Navarro was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, each carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for January 12, 2024.
Prosecutors argued that Navarro defied a subpoena from the House January 6 committee and acted as if he were “above the law.” Navarro’s defense attorney claimed that Navarro did not deliberately ignore the committee’s request and cited executive privilege as the reason for his non-cooperation.
Navarro plans to appeal the conviction, and his defense attorney stated that the case will be decided by the DC Court of Appeals. They argued that Navarro was instructed by President Trump to invoke executive privilege but had not received formal confirmation of this.
The judge ruled that the executive privilege argument was not a defense against the charges, as Navarro could not prove that Trump had invoked it. However, the judge noted that prosecutors had not definitively shown that Navarro acted “willfully” or solely out of loyalty to Trump.
Prosecutors maintained that Navarro had a choice and chose allegiance to Trump over complying with the congressional subpoena. Trump himself faces legal challenges, including a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., and a state indictment in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.