For a second time, the Supreme Court has rejected former Trump White House advisor Peter Navarro’s request to get out of prison while he appeals a conviction for contempt of Congress, CNN reported Monday. The former director of the White House National Trade Council reported to federal prison after Chief Justice John G. Roberts denied Navarro’s first attempt to avoid incarceration.
Navarro, 74, has been serving a four-month sentence in an 80-person facility for older inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami. He had defied a congressional subpoena to testify about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, and was subsequently found guilty of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. The prison sentence and a $9,500 fine were passed down by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
Members of the House January 6 Committee had sought documents and testimony from Navarro, who was involved in Trump’s bid to delay the official certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Navarro argued that he was entitled to executive privilege, but Roberts ruled that even if true, the federal appeals courts decided that it was not enough to shield him from a congressional subpoena.
Navarro reported to prison in mid-March. Earlier this month filed another emergency request with Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, who referred the case before the full court. Though his lawyers argued that a hold on Navarro's prison term was warranted because their client wasn’t a flight risk and was raising substantial legal questions, the second attempt also met with failure. Two lower courts turned down similar appeals.
Navarro is the first former White House official to go to prison on charges of contempt, but he may soon find company. Steve Bannon, the right-wing activist who helped lift Trump to the White House, was also found guilty of two charges of contempt of Congress and given a four-month sentence. But he has so far avoided prison, as the judge put his term on hold while Bannon appeals his conviction.
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