A former economic advisor to President Donald Trump has been ordered to report to prison in Miami.
Peter Navarro was convicted in September after refusing to comply with a federal investigation into the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was criminally charged with two counts of contempt after he refused to testify before Congress and did not produce documents in adherence with a subpoena.
U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia and FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg announced on Jan. 25 that Navarro had been sentenced to four months in prison. He has also been ordered to pay a $9,000 fine by U.S District Judge Amit Mehta.
Navarro must now report to prison in Miami on March 19.
The 74-year-old has been a private citizen since leaving the Trump administration in June 2021. Navarro advised the 45th president on trade and manufacturing policies.
Though Navarro has maintained that he believes Trump’s invocation of executive privilege was valid, Mehta barred him from including that claim as part of his defense. The former presidential advisor plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Yep, [CNN] can't even discuss the important constitutional separation of powers issued in this case,” Navarro posted on X on Jan. 25 with a link to an article from the outlet. CNN had reported that his “conviction and sentence represents another key victory for the now-disbanded House January 6 committee in its efforts to have the Justice Department criminally pursue individuals who refused to cooperate with its probe.”
Navarro had raised over $1 million for his legal defense fund.
In a Feb. 8 update on GiveSendGo, Navarro told his supporters that Mehta had denied his legal team’s request to keep him out of prison pending his appeal. Narrow had said the prosecution was acting with political bias.
“Defendant’s cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a ‘substantial’ one,” Mehta had written in response to the request, per AP News.
“My mission now is not just to keep my freedom,” Navarro wrote in his Feb. 8 update. “Far more importantly, it is to defend the constitutional separation of powers against a partisan and weaponized congress and Biden White House. If I win, we all win.”
Other former advisors have also been criminally charged by the federal government.
“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,” reports The Hill. “Bannon argued his case before a federal appeals court in November and still has not served any time.”
Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted of tax and bank fraud charges in August 2018. Roger Stone, an advisor to the former president, was convicted of lying to Congress and sentenced to three years in prison. Trump commuted his sentence.
