Federal Appeals Court Uphholds Peter Navarro’s Criminal Contempt Conviction

A federal appeals court has upheld the criminal conviction of Peter Navarro, a longtime adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, for refusing to testify about the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The decision was made by a unanimous three-judge panel and serves as a significant blow to Navarro’s ongoing appeal.

Source: cdnph.upi.com

Navarro was convicted of contempt by a jury in 2023 after he rejected a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating the insurrection. The committee had issued the subpoena seeking his testimony and related documents, none of which Navarro produced. In a book published in 2021, Navarro detailed a strategy he devised to delay Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote on the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.

This strategy, which Navarro discussed while promoting the book, was a key factor in the congressional committee’s decision to issue the subpoena. However, Navarro claimed that Trump asserted executive privilege to keep him from testifying. Despite this claim, judges have repeatedly said that Navarro has failed to produce evidence of this, and Trump has not backed up his claim.

According to the decision, Navarro claimed executive privilege before even seeing the subpoena and refused to turn over documents, appear for his deposition, or engage with the Select Committee’s efforts to accommodate his privilege claim. However, the judges wrote that Navarro’s claim failed because he also refused to produce documents and testimony that would not have been subject to executive privilege at all.

Navarro served a four-month sentence in 2024 but continues with his appeal as a matter of correcting precedent, his lawyer said. He remains a senior Trump adviser and has stated that he intends to move swiftly with his appeal because his case affects every senior presidential adviser, regardless of political party, who believes in good faith they cannot comply with a congressional subpoena based on executive privilege.

Navarro is one of only two close Trump allies to have faced criminal consequences over the insurrection. Steve Bannon was also convicted of criminal contempt for rejecting a subpoena and took his case to the Supreme Court before the Justice Department, after Trump’s reelection, said it would drop the indictment.

The federal appeals court’s decision is a significant development in the ongoing investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The case has significant implications for the relationship between the executive branch and Congress, particularly with regards to the use of executive privilege.

The court’s decision is also a reminder that individuals who refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas can face serious consequences, including criminal contempt charges. This serves as a warning to those who may consider ignoring or rejecting congressional subpoenas in the future.

The case of Peter Navarro and his appeal of his criminal contempt conviction will continue to be closely watched by observers of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the ongoing investigation into the insurrection.