Another former Trump adviser sentenced to prison for contempt of Congress

The verdict was announced on January 25. Judge Amit Mehta said that Mr. Navarro's refusal to provide documents and testimony had obstructed the work of the Democratic-led House committee, Reuters reported.

Judge Mehta said Navarro’s refusal to testify and provide documents to the jury was “an affront” to government authority. The court also rejected Navarro’s defense that he had been instructed by Trump not to cooperate with the subpoena because it was an executive order to protect himself.

Mr. Navarro said he believed he did not need to cooperate with Congress , because he argued that Mr. Trump had invoked the legal doctrine of executive privilege, which protects some presidential records and communications from disclosure.

Peter Navarro speaks to the press after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress.

During the hearing, Mr. Mehta told Mr. Navarro that words like “executive privilege” were not a silver bullet to help him avoid prison.

Mr. Navarro said he would appeal, and called for donations to pay for legal costs.

Navarro was convicted by a jury in September 2023 of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the committee, as prosecutors investigated the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol and efforts by Trump supporters to overturn the election results.

Judge Mehta also reprimanded Mr Navarro for previous statements suggesting that US President Joe Biden and top Democrats were behind the prosecution.

Federal prosecutors initially urged Mr. Mehta to sentence Mr. Navarro to six months, the maximum possible sentence, arguing that he had chosen loyalty to former President Trump over the rule of law.

Mr. Navarro has advised Mr. Trump on trade issues and served on the Covid-19 task force. He is also the second prominent Trump adviser to be convicted of contempt of Congress.

According to Politico , Mr. Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon was also sentenced to 4 months in prison in 2022. At that time, Mr. Bannon avoided serving his sentence while trying to appeal.

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