Washington — Peter Navarro, who served as White Home commerce adviser to former President Donald Trump, turned himself at a federal jail in Miami on Tuesday to start serving a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.
His give up got here at some point after Chief Justice John Roberts rejected his Eleventh-hour bid to stay free whereas he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress.
At a press convention at a strip mall throughout the road from the jail earlier than turning himself in, Navarro claimed his case represents an “unprecedented assault” on the separation of powers and govt privilege.
“After I stroll in that jail in the present day, the justice system equivalent to it’s can have carried out a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and govt privilege,” he instructed a bunch of reporters.
Navarro pledged to enchantment his conviction as much as the Supreme Courtroom and claimed his conviction stemmed from the actions of lawmakers, prosecutors and judges who’re “Trump-haters.” There is no such thing as a proof that his prosecution was politically motivated.
“That is the partisan weaponization of our judicial system,” Navarro stated, taking problem with a ruling that barred him from presenting sure defenses to the jury that’s now one of many topics of his enchantment. Â
He’s the primary former White Home official to go to jail after being convicted of contempt of Congress.
Navarro was charged and located responsible after he refused to adjust to a subpoena from the Home choose committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. Congressional investigators had been looking for paperwork and testimony from the previous White Home official tied to his put up 2020-election conduct and efforts to delay the certification of Electoral Faculty votes.Â
He was sentenced to 4 months in jail in January. He appealed each his conviction and the trial choose’s choice to implement his sentence because the enchantment is additional litigated. Navarro has lengthy held that he thought he was certain by govt privilege when he refused to adjust to the committee’s calls for, however the choose overseeing his case dominated there was no proof that the privilege was really invoked.Â
Navarro has been ordered to show himself into federal jail in Miami by Tuesday.Â
A 3-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals already rejected his bid to delay the sentence, writing he was unlikely to safe a brand new trial or reverse his conviction.
In urging the Supreme Courtroom to grant him emergency reduction and put a maintain on his give up, Navarro’s attorneys argued that he’s neither a flight danger nor a risk to public security, and subsequently needs to be allowed to stay free whereas he pursues his enchantment.
“Dr. Navarro is the one former senior presidential advisor to be prosecuted for contempt of Congress following an assertion of govt privilege by the president that advisor served,” his attorneys wrote of their request to the court docket.
They instructed the justices that Navarro’s prosecution for contempt of Congress violated the separation of powers doctrine, so his conviction should be reversed and the indictment towards him dismissed.
His authorized group additionally argued that the questions Navarro plans to boost on enchantment, which contain the assertion of govt privilege, are ones that haven’t been answered earlier than, and subsequently warrant his launch for now.
“Dr. Navarro doesn’t dispute that his failure to adjust to the congressional subpoena at problem was deliberate. Somewhat, he contests that any such prosecution was according to the separation of powers doctrine,” they stated. “Not as soon as earlier than Dr. Navarro’s prosecution has the Division of Justice concluded a senior presidential advisor could also be prosecuted for contempt of Congress following an assertion of govt privilege.”
The Justice Division opposed Navarro’s bid for launch, and argued that he fell in need of assembly the usual for such reduction.
Roberts wrote in his order that he noticed “no foundation to disagree with the willpower that Navarro forfeited these arguments within the launch continuing, which is distinct from his pending enchantment on the deserves.” He acted alone because the justice who oversees requests from emergency reduction arising from the District of Columbia Circuit.
Lots of the information the Jan. 6 choose committee was looking for had been private communications that could not implicate govt privilege, the Biden administration stated, and Navarro shouldn’t be contesting the district court docket’s discovering that Trump didn’t really assert the privilege.Â
“If privilege was by no means asserted, it can’t be a protection to the prosecution right here,” wrote Solicitor Common Elizabeth Prelogar, who represents the federal authorities earlier than the Supreme Courtroom.
Prelogar famous that presidents usually decline to claim govt privilege in response to congressional subpoenas, and stated the president’s superiority in that course of can be “gravely undermined” if a subordinate — Navarro on this case — may override that willpower.Â
Navarro’s “suggestion that he was ‘duty-bound’ to say govt privilege however former President Trump’s failure to claim it thus will get issues precisely backward,” she wrote.
Navarro was not the primary Trump administration official to be convicted of defying Jan. 6 Committee calls for, however he would be the first to report back to jail. Former White Home chief strategist Steve Bannon was discovered responsible of two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced to 4 months in jail, however the choose overseeing his case paused the jail time period as Bannon pursues an enchantment of his personal, writing it was possible his conviction could possibly be reversed.Â