Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro charged with contempt of Congress

Author: Editors Desk Source: Financial Times

June 4, 2022 at 06:30

Peter Navarro faces a possible prison term if convicted on the contempt of Congress brought against him © AP

Prosecutors allege he defied requests for information from committee investigating January 6 assault

Peter Navarro, who served as the top White House trade adviser to Donald Trump, has been indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress after failing to comply with a subpoena from the committee probing the January 6 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

The indictment was announced by the US justice department on Friday. Navarro appeared before the federal court in Washington DC in the afternoon. If convicted, Navarro could face a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, as well as a fine of up to $100,000, for each of the counts.

Outside the courtroom on Friday, Navarro blasted the January 6 panel, saying it was a “kangaroo” committee probe that had “punitive purposes” and was designed to stop Trump from running for president again in 2024. He also spoke out about how the FBI conducted his arrest, intercepting him as he was getting on a plane, putting him in “handcuffs” and “leg irons” and placing him in a cell occupied by John Hinckley, who attempted to kill president Ronald Reagan in 1981.

During Trump’s presidency, Navarro was one of the main architects of the US’s trade confrontations with Canada and Mexico, European countries, and China. Those disputes caused severe diplomatic strains between Washington and many key trading partners, frequently rattling markets and blunting the US economic expansion.

In addition to advising Trump on trade, Navarro was also one of his most loyal lieutenants in the wake of the November 2020 election, when Trump began questioning the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory and pushed for lawmakers to deny the certification of the results.

Although Steve Bannon, Trump’s former political strategist and adviser at the start of his presidency, has also been indicted for defying a January 6 subpoena from Congress, the charges against Navarro are the first to be levelled against a White House official who was present at the time of the riot.

“Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation into the causes of the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” Bennie Thompson, the chair of the congressional panel investigating the riot, said when the subpoena was issued.

“He hasn’t been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former president’s support for those plans,” Thompson added.

Navarro’s indictment comes as the January 6 congressional panel prepares to host its first public hearing next week, which is expected to shed new light on the push by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election — an effort that has raised fears that America’s democratic institutions could be in jeopardy.