DOJ Recommends Ex-Trump Aide Peter Navarro Receive Six-Month Prison Sentence For Contempt of Congress

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Department of Justice is recommending that an adviser to former President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, receive a six month prison sentence for refusing to cooperate with the House investigation into January 6th, 2021 Capitol attack.

Back in September of last year, Navarro was found guilty of contempt of Congress in a DC court after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena to testify before the committee investigating January 6th. The two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress are punishable by up to a year in prison.

Back in February 2022, the committee, which was led by a Democrat majority at the time, subpoenaed Navarro for a deposition along with documents concerning the events of January 6th.  Navarro refused and told prosecutors that he was barred by executive privilege and therefore declined to participate in the investigation.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Navarro was aware that Trump had never actually asserted executive privilege regarding the events of January 6th.

DOJ Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi released a 20-page sentencing memo last night claiming that the six-month sentence was recommended due to Navarro’s “bad-faith strategy” of “sustained, deliberate contempt of Congress.”

“The defendant, like the rioters at the Capitol, put politics, not country, first, and stonewalled Congress’s investigation,” Aloi added, according to Fox News. “The defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”

DOJ prosecutors also asked for Navarro to receive a $200,000 fine with a sentencing date expected on January 25th in a federal district court in DC.

Recently, US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected Navarro’s request for a new trial after he claimed the jury that convicted him was prejudiced because some jurors witnessed a protest at a nearby park.