Key facts
- The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Peter Navarro's contempt of Congress conviction.
- Navarro was convicted for defying a subpoena from the January 6th Select Committee.
- Navarro claimed executive privilege but did not provide evidence that Donald Trump invoked it.
- Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison and served his sentence in 2024.
- Navarro intends to appeal further, arguing his case affects senior presidential advisors' use of executive privilege.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the contempt of Congress conviction of Peter Navarro, a former advisor to Donald Trump. Navarro was found guilty in 2023 for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack. He claimed executive privilege, but the court noted he failed to provide evidence that Trump had invoked it. Navarro served a four-month prison sentence in 2024.
In their ruling, the judges, including Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and Michelle Childs, stated that Navarro asserted executive privilege before seeing the subpoena and refused to cooperate with the committee's requests. Navarro's legal team, led by Abhishek Kambli, plans to appeal further, arguing the case is critical for senior presidential advisors who believe they cannot comply with congressional subpoenas based on executive privilege.
Navarro's situation has drawn comparisons to that of Steve Bannon, another Trump ally who was also convicted for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. Bannon's indictment was later dropped by the Justice Department. Navarro, however, has expressed a desire to continue fighting his case, seeking a substantive legal victory.
The appeals court panel highlighted that Trump had publicly called on Navarro to assert executive privilege during a separate investigation into the administration's COVID-19 response, a distinction that raised doubts about the validity of Navarro's claim in the January 6th context. The court found no evidence that Trump had publicly backed Navarro's assertion of executive privilege for the January 6th investigation.