Peter Navarro, a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, is facing the possibility of serving a prison sentence after being found guilty of criminal contempt of Congress charges. A federal judge has ordered Navarro to report to prison for a four-month sentence, despite a pending appeal of his earlier conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress.
The charges were brought against Navarro after he defied a subpoena from the Democrat-controlled House Jan. 6 Select Committee, which demanded the turnover of certain documents and his testimony in a sworn deposition. Navarro had requested to be released from prison pending appeal, and although he was granted a temporary delay to file a brief presenting his arguments against imprisonment, the judge ultimately denied the motion.
The judge dismissed Navarro’s claim that he believed President Trump had invoked executive privilege, which would have excused him from compliance. Additionally, the judge rejected Navarro’s assertion that Trump’s executive privilege made him immune from prosecution for contempt of Congress, as Navarro failed to provide evidence of Trump properly invoking executive privilege on his behalf regarding the select committee’s subpoena.
However, Judge Mehta had not concluded his actions at that point.
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