Navarro Reports to Federal Prison!
Miami, US, Mar 19 (EFE).-
Peter Navarro, former trade adviser to former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, surrendered to authorities Tuesday at a federal prison in Miami, Florida.
Navarro will serve a four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with congressional investigations into the attack on the US Capitol in Washington.
On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump (2017-2021) attacked the US Capitol while lawmakers were in the process of certifying the results of the election, which handed victory to the current president, Joe Biden.
With his incarceration, Navarro becomes the first senior aide to former President Trump to be jailed for contempt of Congress.
Before entering prison, Navarro spoke at a gas station down the street from the prison, pointing out that his conviction was “an unprecedented assault on the constitutional separation of powers.”
“I’m pissed. That’s what I’m feeling right now,” added the former White House official, who appeared in an aviator jacket and entered the jail at about 11:40 am local time.
Navarro’s surrender came after US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday denied a defense request to stay the prison order while the appeal of the verdict is pending.
In January, Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison for being found guilty of refusing to comply with a subpoena from a US House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
Congressional investigators wanted to collect testimony from the former White House official about his actions after the 2020 election, won by the current US president, Democrat Joe Biden.
Navarro appealed the court’s decision, but a three-judge panel from the District of Columbia unanimously denied the request to delay the execution of the sentence.
Throughout the court proceedings, tthe former trade adviser argued that he believed he did not have to comply with the House committee’s demands based on then-President Trump’s request for executive privilege.
Both the judge and the DC appeals court panel pointed out that there was no evidence that Trump had claimed those privileges.
The former aide wrote at least three reports related to those elections, in which he cited reports of alleged fraud.
In 2023, Navarro was convicted of two counts of contempt, one for failing to provide investigators with documents related to the investigation and the other for failing to appear for a deposition.
During the trial, the prosecution claimed that Navarro had shown total contempt for the House committee investigating the riot and “for the rule of law.”
For the Capitol attack, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was also sentenced to four months in prison for contempt, but another court ruled that he could be released pending appeal. EFE
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