Trump White Home official Peter Navarro was convicted Thursday of contempt of Congress expenses for refusing to co-operate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
The decision got here after a brief trial for Navarro, who served as a White Home commerce adviser underneath former U.S. president Donald Trump and later promoted the baseless claims of mass voter fraud within the 2020 election that Trump misplaced.
Navarro was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress expenses after former White Home adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon was convicted of two counts and was sentenced to 4 months behind bars, although he has been free pending attraction.
Decide Amit Mehta scheduled Navarro’s sentencing for Jan. 12. He was convicted in Washington’s federal courthouse of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, each punishable by as much as a 12 months behind bars.
Defence legal professional Stanley Woodward moved for a mistrial, saying that the jurors had taken an outside break close to the place protesters and media usually collect exterior the courthouse and got here again with a verdict shortly after. Mehta didn’t instantly rule, however stated he would take into account written arguments on the difficulty.
Prosecutors stated Navarro acted as if he had been “above the legislation” when he defied a subpoena for paperwork and a deposition from the Home Jan. 6 committee.
A defence legal professional argued Navarro did not purposely ignore the Home Jan. 6 Committee. Navarro as an alternative advised staffers to contact Trump about what is perhaps protected by government privilege, one thing that did not occur, Woodward argued.
A choose has dominated the manager privilege argument is not a defence towards the costs, discovering Navarro could not present that Trump had invoked it.
However Woodward stated prosecutors hadn’t confirmed that Navarro acted “willfully” or solely out of loyalty to Trump.
“Do we all know that his failure to conform past cheap doubt wasn’t the results of accident, inadvertence or mistake?” he stated.
Prosecutors, although, stated Navarro ought to have handed over what materials he might and flagged any questions or paperwork believed to be protected underneath government privilege. They stated a lot of the fabric the committee sought was already publicly obtainable.
“Peter Navarro made a alternative. He selected not abide by the congressional subpoena,” prosecutor Elizabeth Aloi stated. “The defendant selected allegiance to former president Donald Trump over compliance to the subpoena.”
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