Current:Home > MarketsPeter Navarro, former Trump White House adviser, ordered to report to federal prison by March 19-LoTradeCoin
Peter Navarro, former Trump White House adviser, ordered to report to federal prison by March 19
View Date:2024-12-23 19:48:35
Washington — Former President Donald Trump's White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, has been ordered to report to federal prison in Miami by March 19, following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, his lawyers revealed in a court filing on Sunday.
Navarro was found guilty by a jury last year of defying a subpoena for documents and testimony from the now-defunct House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. After refusing to comply with the congressional request, the House of Representatives held him in contempt and referred the matter to the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., for prosecution.
Congressional investigators were looking into his efforts to formulate a plan that would have delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Navarro is poised to be the first Trump administration official to serve time for post-2020 election-related conduct.
The former Trump adviser has appealed his conviction, stating that he didn't comply with the committee's demands because he believed he was restricted by executive privilege. Prosecutors argued — and the judge overseeing last year's criminal trial agreed — that the explanation was not a valid legal defense because Navarro failed to prove that Trump had asserted the privilege. As a result, the court ruled he could not raise it at trial.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who made the decision, said that his ruling on executive privilege was likely to be appealed because he recognized the binding legal precedent upon which it was based affected Navarro's defense. He later sentenced Navarro to four months in prison and rejected Navarro's request to remain free pending the appeal.
Navarro's lawyers turned to the appeals court to keep him out of prison during the appeal process and said in court filings they could take the matter to the Supreme Court.
During the trial and at sentencing, prosecutors alleged that Navarro "acted like he was above the law" when he did not comply with the committee's order and "thumbed his nose" at their work.
The judge, who said he took issue with Navarro's public comments about the case, told him during the January sentencing that asserting privilege is not "magical dust" or "a get-out-of-jail free card."
"Should this Court find either that the privilege should have been acknowledged or that Dr. Navarro should have been permitted to present evidence of his reliance on the assertion of executive privilege in his defense, the reversal of his conviction will be required," Navarro's attorneys wrote Sunday to the appeals court.
An attorney for Navarro declined to comment further.
In a statement Monday, Navarro said his case, "will eventually determine whether the constitutional separation of powers is preserved, whether executive privilege will continue to exist as a bulwark against partisan attacks by the legislative branch, and whether executive privilege will remain, as President George Washington pioneered, a critical instrument of effective presidential decision-making. That's worth fighting for on behalf of all Americans."
Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon was also found guilty of contempt of Congress after he did not comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Like Navarro, he was sentenced to four months in prison, but the judge in his case has allowed Bannon to remain free pending an appeal of his case because the judge said it was likely the higher court could reverse the conviction or order a new trial.
Federal prosecutors declined to prosecute two other Trump aides — former chief of staff Mark Meadows and adviser Dan Scavino — also for contempt of Congress.
Robert LegareRobert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell."
veryGood! (9432)
Related
- Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
- 6th-grade teacher, college professor among 160 arrested in Ohio human trafficking bust
- New Mexico Attorney General has charged a police officer in the shooting death of a Black man
- First parents in America charged in school shooting to be tried after court rejects appeal
- Nearly 80,000 pounds of Costco butter recalled for missing 'Contains Milk statement': FDA
- Too hot to handle: iPhone 15 Pro users report overheating
- Greece wants European Union to sanction countries that refuse deported migrants, minister says
- NYC student sentenced to 1 year in Dubai prison over airport altercation, group says
- Democrat Janelle Bynum flips Oregon’s 5th District, will be state’s first Black member of Congress
- 2 U.S. soldiers dead, 12 injured after vehicle flips over in Alaska
Ranking
- Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
- Jets-Broncos beef explained: How Sean Payton's preseason comments ignited latest NFL feud
- Suspect in police beating has ruptured kidney, headaches; his attorneys call for a federal probe
- Missing woman who was subject of a Silver Alert killed in highway crash in Maine
- Chris Evans Shares Thoughts on Starting a Family With Wife Alba Baptista
- Why oust McCarthy? What Matt Gaetz has said about his motivations to remove the speaker of the House
- A timeline of 9-year-old Charlotte Sena's disappearance and how the missing girl was found
- The world's oldest mummies are decomposing after 7,000 years. Here's why.
Recommendation
-
To Protect the Ozone Layer and Slow Global Warming, Fertilizers Must Be Deployed More Efficiently, UN Says
-
The 'American Dream' has always been elusive. Is it still worth fighting for?
-
Additional U.S. aid for Ukraine left in limbo as Congress dodges a government shutdown
-
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rallies his Conservatives by saying he’s ready to take tough decisions
-
Judith Jamison, acclaimed Alvin Ailey American dancer and director, dead at 81
-
NYC student sentenced to 1 year in Dubai prison over airport altercation, group says
-
Myanmar guerrilla group claims it killed a businessman who helped supply arms to the military
-
Is Rob McElhenney copying Ryan Reynolds? 'Always Sunny' stars launch new whiskey