The walls are closing in…
Former Trump Administration adviser Peter Navarro is scheduled to report to a Miami prison on March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress.
The Hill has more:
His lawyers wrote in a Sunday court filing that a federal appeals court should temporarily put his sentence on hold while he appeals his conviction. If that effort fails, he could become the first key Trump adviser to serve jail time over efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw Navarro’s trial, declined to allow the Trump ally to stay out of prison while the appellate process plays out.
Navarro’s counsel had argued that the question of executive privilege, which Navarro claimed Trump invoked over any testimony to the House Jan. 6 panel, rises to that threshold.
Navarro told the judge during his sentencing he had an “honest belief” that executive privilege had been invoked by Trump. His lawyers wrote court filings that the judge’s decision “hamstrung” Navarro’s defense by leaving open the question of whether a president can direct his subordinates not to testify before Congress.
After his conviction, Navarro asserted his case could reach the Supreme Court due to the questions it raises about executive privilege for high-ranking White House staff.
Ex-White House adviser Steve Bannon was also convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress last year and sentenced to four months in prison, but a different judge said he could remain free pending appeal.
If Bannon can appeal why cant Navarro?