US Supreme Court Denies Peter Navarro Bid to Avoid Prison – On Monday, the US Supreme Court rejected a plea from Peter Navarro, a former aide to Donald Trump, to avoid incarceration while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress. Navarro, who was a trade adviser during Trump’s tenure, is facing prison time for defying a subpoena from a committee investigating the 2021 Capitol attack.
This makes him the first high-ranking member of the administration to be jailed in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. According to his legal representatives, Navarro is scheduled to report to a federal prison in Miami around 11:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday to commence his four-month sentence.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees certain urgent matters concerning cases originating from Washington, acted on behalf of the Supreme Court in rejecting Navarro’s plea. Navarro was convicted by a jury in September of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for disobeying a subpoena from the Democratic-led House of Representatives committee.
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Trump, the Republican candidate, is challenging Joe Biden in the November 5 US election. On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters attempted to hinder Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 victory, resulting in clashes with police and the storming of the Capitol. The committee that Navarro defied was investigating that attack, as well as Trump’s broader efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat.
After the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Navarro’s request to suspend his sentence during his appeal, he made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court last week. Roberts, in a brief order, said he saw “no basis to disagree” with the DC circuit’s determination that Navarro had forfeited various arguments seeking to avoid prison, “which is distinct from his pending appeal on the merits”.
Navarro has argued that he believed that he did not have to cooperate with Congress because he thought Trump had invoked the legal doctrine of executive privilege, which shields some presidential records and communications from disclosure. Navarro was the second prominent Trump adviser to be convicted of contempt of Congress for rebuffing the House panel.
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Former Trump adviser and rightwing firebrand Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022. He has avoided serving the sentence while he appeals his conviction. Navarro advised Trump on trade issues during his presidency and served on a Covid-19 taskforce. He became a vocal supporter of Trump’s false claims of widespread voting fraud in the 2020 election.