Peter Navarro is the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress costs.
Former US President Trump’s commerce adviser Peter Navarro has been sentenced to 4 months in jail for contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the January 6 assault on the Capitol.
Navarro was discovered responsible of defying a subpoena for paperwork and a deposition from the Home January 6 committee.
He pledged to enchantment Thursday’s verdict and stated he couldn’t cooperate with the committee as a result of Trump had invoked government privilege.
A choose banned him from making that argument throughout trial, discovering that he didn’t present that Trump had invoked it.
Navarro stated in court docket earlier than his sentencing that the Home committee investigating the January 6 assault had led him to consider that it accepted his invocation of government privilege, which shields some presidential information and communications from disclosure.
“No person in my place must be put in battle between the legislative department and the manager department,” he instructed the choose.
He added that there was “no cause for the tough punishment” prosecutors had been in search of.
However US District Choose Amit Mehta refuted his declare and stated, “You aren’t a sufferer. You aren’t the article of a political prosecution”.
“These are circumstances of your personal making,” he added.
Federal prosecutors in Washington had requested Choose Mehta to provide Navarro a six-month sentence and a $200,000 advantageous, arguing that he selected to be loyal to Trump over the rule of regulation.
“The defendant openly defied Congress,” prosecutor John Crabb stated.
Prosecutors additionally stated that Navarro tried to “conceal behind claims of privilege” even earlier than he knew what the committee wished, displaying a “disdain” for the committee.
His sentencing got here after a choose rejected his bid for a brand new trial after his legal professionals argued that jurors may need been influenced by protesters outdoors the courtroom after they took a break from deliberations.
Navarro, 74, suggested Trump on commerce points throughout his presidency and have become a vocal supporter of Trump’s false claims of widespread voting fraud within the 2020 election.
Trump backers appeared to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s victory throughout a conflict with police and rampaging via the Capitol.
Navarro is the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress costs, after former White Home adviser Steve Bannon, who additionally received a four-month sentence however is free pending enchantment.
The choose presiding over Thursday’s sentencing additionally criticised Navarro for his previous statements that Biden and different distinguished Democrats are behind his conviction.
“Joe Biden will not be accountable for your prosecution,” the choose instructed Navarro.
“It’s these sorts of statements from any person who is aware of higher than that contributes to why our politics are so corrosive.”
