Former White House economic adviser Peter Navarro was convicted by a jury on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress on Thursday.
The Washington, DC, jury determined Navarro willfully failed to comply with the House January 6 Committee’s subpoena when he refused to testify before the committee and produce documents.
Navarro was held in contempt by Congress last year, along with former White House communications aide Dan Scavino.
As Breitbart News reported at the time:
Navarro has said candidly in interviews that the plan among Trump loyalists was to use a peaceful protest at the Capitol to pressure Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification of Electoral College votes from states where the results were being contested by the Trump campaign.
Contrary to the claims of the January 6 committee, Navarro said that the violence that erupted interfered with the plan and ensured its failure.
The jury deliberated for nearly five hours before finding Navarro guilty on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. United States District Judge Amit Mehta scheduled Navarro’s sentencing for January 12, 2024.
Both counts carry a maximum sentence of one year in prison and maximum fines of $100,000.
“Peter Navarro made a choice. He chose not to comply with the congressional subpoena. Our government only works when people play by the rules,” federal prosecutors told the jurors during closing arguments Thursday morning.
Navarro’s attorney Stanley Woodward argued the government failed to meet its high burden of proof in the criminal case.
“For the government to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt it also has to prove that Dr. Navarro’s failure to comply with the subpoena was not the result of accident, mistake or inadvertence,” Woodward said.
“This case is about those three words,” Navarro added, emphasizing “accident, mistake, or inadvertence.”
“Do we know his failure to comply — beyond reasonable doubt — was not [an] accident, inadvertence or mistake? Why didn’t the government present evidence about where he was, or what he was doing?” Woodward said. “Something stinks.”
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was convicted last year of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for similarly failing to comply with the January 6 Committee’s subpoenas.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
