Peter Navarro: Former Trump adviser indicted for contempt of Congress
During a court appearance in Washington, DC, on Friday, Navarro said that he still wants to represent himself without a lawyer and accused prosecutors of using “hardball” tactics by arresting him at an airport and not allowing him to make a phone call.
Navarro said he was arrested at a DC-area airport Friday on his way to Nashville.
He faces two contempt counts: one for his failure to produce documents demanded by the committee and the other for failing to show up for subpoenaed testimony before House investigators.
Navarro had claimed that he was unable to cooperate because former President Donald Trump had asserted executive privilege in the matter. The committee had countered those arguments by citing that many of the topics it wanted to discuss with him he had already written about in great detail in his book.
Navarro is now the second former Trump adviser to be indicted for criminal contempt of Congress for defying a January 6 committee subpoena. The first referral from the House, for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, was picked up by DOJ and has led to an indictment. He faces a criminal trial this summer. The Justice Department has yet to act on two other Trump allies referred by the House for prosecution: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and ex-White House aide Dan Scavino.
The Justice Department has come under pressure for from House Democrats and others on the left for not acting aggressively enough in its January 6 investigation, particularly as it concerns the role Trump and his inner circle played in seeking to overturn the election and in making the mass voter fraud that propelled the violent assault on the Capitol.
There have been recent indications, however, that the department has ramped up its investigation into a scheme to put forward fraudulent slates of Trump-supporting electors in states that President Joe Biden won.
At Friday’s court appearance, Judge Zia Faruqui expressed concern about allowing Navarro to represent himself. “I think it’s important that you have counsel,” the judge told him.
Navarro said he was OK with the judge appointing counsel “for today” and that he sent prosecutors an email with an attorney contact as they work this out. Navarro, who has a Ph.D in economics, is not an attorney.
“The arraignment should be postponed for a number of reasons,” Navarro added, requesting that his civil lawsuit against the House January 6 committee go forward before any criminal proceedings.
The court handling the civil case has already dinged Navarro for procedural flaws in how he structured the lawsuit.
The Justice Department did not request that Navarro be detained and while he argued the conditions of release were too strict — telling Faruqui that he was “no threat to anybody, not a flight risk” — the judge largely disagreed but allowed him to keep his passport.
Navarro will have to report to pretrial services, must notify pretrial if he is traveling, is not allowed to possess firearms or explosives and must get approval for travel outside the continental US.
His next court appearance is scheduled for June 17.
Focus on non-cooperation
The new charges against Navarro focus narrowly on his lack of compliance…
Read More: Peter Navarro: Former Trump adviser indicted for contempt of Congress