Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro outside the federal court in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31. Navarro was found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt for defying a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was found guilty Thursday of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A federal jury deliberated for less than four hours before issuing its verdict. Navarro, 74, is now the second former aide to the former president to be prosecuted for not cooperating with the select committee.
Navarro, who served as director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy under Trump, was originally subpoenaed by the committee in February 2022, seeking his testimony and that he turn over documents related to the investigation. The subpoena from the Democratic-led select committee came after Navarro documented his efforts to delay the certification of the 2020 election results in a memoir he published after leaving the White House.
In response to the subpoena, Navarro argued he was immune from testimony because he was shielded by executive privilege through former President Trump.
That line of defense was dismissed, however, ahead of Navarro’s trial in a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta. With his conviction, Navarro now faces up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 for each charge.
Thursday’s verdict capped a two-day trial that featured less than three hours of witness testimony — none of which came from the defense team. Prosecutors said that Navarro “chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump” over abiding by the congressional subpoena.
“Our government only works when people play by the rules and it only works when people are held accountable when they do not. When a person intentionally and deliberately chooses to defy a congressional subpoena, that is a crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi said in her closing arguments on Thursday, according to Politico.
As the trial began earlier this week, Navarro posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, writing, “Trial starts in an hour I love the smell of justice in the morning. Can’t smell a thing.” He also argued online Tuesday that he was on trial for “an alleged crime no senior White House official ever charged with.”
Trial starts in an hour I love the smell of justice in the morning. Can’t smell a thing.
Fight for our constitutional separation of powers at https://t.co/j8pTK0IfKn https://t.co/pS3dJQMiEr— Peter Navarro (@RealPNavarro) September 6, 2023
This marks the second guilty verdict of a former Trump aide for failing to cooperate with the House select committee’s efforts to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. Steve Bannon, who served as a chief strategist and counselor to the former president, was sentenced to four months in prison last October for defying a subpoena from the committee, but remains free pending an appeal.