(Daily360.com) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to lock former Trump adviser Peter Navarro up for six months in jail and issue him a $200,000 fine. Navarro served as President Donald Trump’s trade advisor for all four years of his presidency. He was later subpoenaed to testify before the congressional committee looking into the events of January 6th, 2021.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi filed a 20-page sentencing memo that accuses Navarro of not complying with that subpoena because he had a greater loyalty to Donald Trump than he did the rule of law. Navarro denies this allegation and says he did not comply because he believed he was protected by executive privilege and until that issue was settled he should not be expected to testify.
The DOJ prosecutors continue to paint the January 6th riot as an insurrection attempt to take over the government and allege Navarro attempted to aid this attempt. They say Navarro worked with Congressional allies on what he called the “Green Bay Sweep” as a strategy to help Trump remain in office. The plan would have had then Vice President Mike Pence return certain groups of electors back to state legislatures as requested to work out seeming irregularities with the vote counts.
The plan never came to fruition due in large part to the riot that took place at the Capitol. Navarro was held in contempt of Congress in April of 2022 and was later indicted by a grand jury for refusing to provide testimony and documents. Prosecutors say Navarro’s argument was moot because Trump never invoked executive privilege. Furthermore, Joe Biden has since taken the unprecedented action of waiving all executive privilege invocations by Trump.
Navarro’s lawyers deny that he ignored the subpoenas or showed any disrespect for the law. They say their client reasonably believed he should not be made to testify due to executive privilege. Navarro will become the second Trump aide sentenced in this way following former White House strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon likewise invoked executive privilege as well as stating he did not need to comply with a committee that was not constituted in the proper manner with proper minority party representation. Navarro is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
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