On Thursday, former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine on two charges of contempt of Congress, after his refusal to comply with a subpoena related to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro, 74, was found guilty of failing to comply with subpoenas the House select committee investigating the Capitol riots requesting that he provide documents and testimony, claiming former President Donald Trump gave him executive privilege. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said in court that Navarro’s punishment was of his “own making” and criticized the former Trump adviser for claiming his prosecution was politically motivated. Judge Mehta said during the sentencing hearing: “I guess what bothers me ultimately is that here we are after a year and a half plus and you still want to suggest to me that this is a political prosecution. You want me to believe this is a political prosecution. When the evidence is completely to the contrary.”
Navarro, 74, told Judge Mehta at his sentencing hearing in federal court Thursday that he had “an honest belief” that executive privilege had been invoked by former President Donald Trump when he received the subpoena — an argument that prosecutors had disputed at trial. The prosecution previously had asked Mehta to impose a prison sentence of six months and a fine of $600,000. Navarro’s council sought a lesser sentence not exceeding six months of probation and a fine of $100,000. The implementation of Mehta’s sentence could be delayed as Navarro’s attorneys have hinted they will appeal his conviction.
The Justice Department said in a filing ahead of the sentence: “The defendant, like the rioters at the Capitol, put politics, not country first and stonewalled Congress’ investigation. The defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”
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