Former Trump adviser Navarro gets four months for contempt of Congress By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Peter Navarro, adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, faces reporters after he was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Home of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on the

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s commerce adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced on Thursday to 4 months in jail for contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors in Washington had requested U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta to provide Navarro a six-month sentence, arguing that he selected allegiance to Trump over the rule of regulation.

“The defendant overtly defied Congress,” prosecutor John Crabb mentioned.

Navarro’s legal professionals are asking for probation, arguing that the previous White Home adviser believed that he didn’t need to cooperate with Congress as a result of he thought Trump had invoked the authorized doctrine of govt privilege, which shields some presidential information and communications from disclosure.

Navarro was discovered responsible in September of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to show over paperwork and supply testimony to a Democratic-led Home of Representatives panel.

“They led me to consider that privilege had been invoked they usually accepted it,” Navarro mentioned on Thursday of the Home committee.

Navarro added that there was “no cause for the tough punishment” prosecutors have been in search of.

The committee investigated the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters and broader makes an attempt by the previous president to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Navarro has requested that any sentence be placed on maintain whereas he pursues an attraction. The choose didn’t instantly resolve that subject.

The choose reprimanded Navarro for his previous statements that Biden and different distinguished Democrats are behind the prosecution.

“Joe Biden isn’t liable for your prosecution,” the choose advised Navarro. “It is these sorts of statements from anyone who is aware of higher that contributes to why our politics are so corrosive.”

Mehta beforehand decided that Trump had not clearly directed Navarro to say privilege. Navarro was barred from making that argument to the jury throughout his trial.

Navarro, 74, suggested Trump on commerce points throughout his presidency and served on a COVID-19 job drive. He turned a vocal supporter of Trump’s false claims of widespread voting fraud within the 2020 election. Trump supporters sought to forestall Congress from certifying Biden’s victory, clashing with police and rampaging by means of the Capitol.

The Home committee had sought to interview Navarro about his plan, dubbed the “Inexperienced Bay Sweep,” to derail the certification of the election outcomes.

Navarro is the second distinguished Trump adviser to be convicted of contempt of Congress for spurning the Home panel. Former Trump adviser and right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon was sentenced to 4 months in jail in 2022. He has averted serving the sentence whereas he appeals his conviction.