Former senior adviser Peter Navarro has claimed the case is politically motivated
Donald Trump’s former senior commerce adviser, Peter Navarro, was convicted on Thursday of refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into alleged makes an attempt to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 US presidential election.
The 12-person jury discovered Navarro responsible on two counts of contempt of Congress following his failure to testify or disclose paperwork to the Democratic-led investigation into the circumstances which led to the 2021 US Capitol riots. The Home panel can be investigating alleged Trump-led makes an attempt to overturn the outcomes of his election defeat to Joe Biden three years in the past.
Talking outdoors the Washington DC courtroom, Navarro claimed the decision was a “unhappy day for America” and vowed to attraction the case to the Supreme Court docket if essential. “That is the primary time within the historical past of our republic {that a} senior White Home adviser, an alter ego of the president, has ever been charged with this alleged crime,” Navarro informed reporters.
He added that the Division of Justice had ignored a greater than 50-year-old coverage that presidential advisers couldn’t be ordered to testify earlier than Congress.
Nonetheless, US District Decide Amit Mehta, a Barack Obama nominee, dominated that Navarro couldn’t be shielded by Trump’s use of government privilege. She added there was no proof that the previous president had truly invoked the authorized doctrine in relation to Navarro’s subpoena.
Navarro’s protection lawyer, Stanley Woodward, subsequently argued throughout the trial that his consumer’s failure to adjust to the Home investigation could have merely been an error.
In his 2021 ebook ‘In Trump Time’, Navarro wrote that he was a key determine within the GOP’s efforts to problem the declared outcomes of the 2020 election, claiming that there was widespread voter fraud. A number of authorized challenges have failed to determine the veracity of those claims.
The 74-year-old Navarro, recognized for his hawkish insurance policies on China, was a key adviser on commerce points to Trump all through his four-year administration within the White Home, in addition to being a member of Trump’s Covid-19 activity power. He’s the second shut Trump affiliate to have been convicted of failing to adjust to the Home investigation after Steve Bannon was discovered responsible final 12 months, additionally for contempt of Congress.
Navarro’s sentencing will happen in January. He faces a most of 1 12 months in jail for every of the 2 counts, in addition to fines of as much as $100,000.
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