‘Privilege Doesn’t Apply to Coups’: Jan. 6 Committee Votes to Recommend Trump Allies Be Held in Contempt

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) declared executive privilege does not apply to those who engaged in “coups” Monday as the Jan. 6 House select committee voted to recommend Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino be held in contempt of Congress.

The vote was 9-0, and the measure will now head to the House of Representative.

Neither Scavino nor Navarro – both allies of Donald Trump – cooperated with the committee’s investigation into the riot last January at the U.S. Capitol.

Navarro, despite not speaking to lawmakers on the committee, has been on TV and podcasts to discuss his plan, the so-called “Green Bay Sweep,” to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The former Trump administration trade advisor has cited “executive privilege” when telling reporters why he will not speak to the committee.

The committee aired footage from an interview Navarro granted to MSNBC’s Ari Melber earlier this year in which the host challenged his guest’s claims that he could invoke executive privilege.

After the committee voted to hold Navarro and Scavino in contempt, Raskin unloaded on the executive privilege assertion.

The congressman said Navarro’s citing of privilege is, “not his to waive.”

“On Feb. 28th, 2022, the White House counsel notified Mr. Navarro that President Biden determined that assertion of executive privilege is not justified with respect to Navarro’s effort to cover up the evidence of his participation in this assault on American constitutional democracy,” Raskin said.

The Maryland Democrat added that Trump himself has not invoked privilege, and that Biden would not allow him to use it as an umbrella:

“There is primarily no assertion of executive privilege here, either by the actual president or by any former president,” Raskin said. “And even if there were, even if President Biden try to assert executive privilege for Peter Navarro, he would fail immediately because the privilege does not apply to private political business, much less to criminal activity like conducting coups or insurrections against the government.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.