President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is eyeing to send former Trump administration adviser Peter Navarro to prison for six months after he refused to show up when he was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion.
It has been noted that Navarro was called to testify before lawmakers in 2022 but declined to show up, citing immunity due to executive privilege.
The former White House adviser argued he was immune from testifying because he worked directly with his boss, former President Donald Trump, at the time. He maintained that any conversations he had with Trump were to remain confidential. FBI agents arrested Navarro, 72, at an airport in June 2022 and handcuffed and leg-shackled him.
Navarro complained at the time that he had been in contact with federal agents and would have been happy to surrender. Instead, the agents made a spectacle of his arrest by ambushing him at an airport and in front of the public, he said.
Navarro was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress last September.
The Justice Department said in a news release he faced a maximum of one year in prison for each conviction. NBC News reported on Thursday that prosecutors said in a sentencing request that Navarro — a senior citizen — “deserves severe punishment” for defying the subpoena. They have asked for a sentence of six months behind bars and a $200,000 fine.
