Former Trump business adviser Peter Navarro brought a photograph of his former boss to court as his contempt of Congress trial began Wednesday for his refusal to testify before the Jan. 6 Committee.
“The commander in chief,” Navarro joked to reporters when they asked him about the sign before entering the courthouse.
Navarro then showed the large photo of Trump waving, but offered no other explanation for why he had the sign.
As he headed to the courtroom he adopted a solemn tone, lamenting that the pending trial “will be another $10,000 in legal fees. In total, it will be a million dollars.”
Navarro, 74, faces two counts for defying subpoenas by the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Committee.
The former presidential adviser maintains that the subpoenas were preempted by former President Donald Trump’s executive privilege, the right of a president to maintain certain confidential communications.
Peter Navarro holds his poster of former President Donald Trump.REUTERS
Predictably, prosecutors urged jurors to convict him, arguing that he flagrantly disobeyed the law by defying a congressional subpoena.
“Mr. Navarro ignored your subpoena,” prosecutor John Crabb told the jury on Wednesday, Reuters reported. “You acted like you were above the law, but you are not above the law.”
Navarro has pleaded not guilty to both charges, which carry between 30 days and one year behind bars, as well as a fine of up to $100,000 per charge.
Last week, US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected Navarro’s latest attempt to bar a trial based on executive privilege.
Protesters trolled Peter Navarro with “missing Trump” signs during his court appearance Tuesday. AFP via Getty Images
Last week, a woman held up a “Trump Missing” sign near Peter Navarro during a press conference outside the DC courthouse.Getty Images
Mehta was not convinced that Navarro had sufficient evidence that Trump used the “magic words” to properly invoke executive privilege at a relevant moment.
Earlier this year, a Trump attorney sent Navarro a letter stating that he “had an obligation to assert executive privilege on his behalf and fully abide by principles of confidentiality.”
However, even if Trump had properly invoked executive privilege, Mehta allegedly suggested that Navarro could have been liable for testifying on any non-privileged issues.
Jury selection for the 12-member panel took place on Tuesday. Navarro previously shrugged off concerns that the pool comes from the deep blue of Washington, DC.
The House Jan. 6 Committee’s subpoena for Navarro to testify came in February of last year, just weeks after he apparently mocked the Jan. 6 committee.
Donald Trump faces legal problems, to the tune of 91 criminal charges.Gregory P. Mango
The trade adviser had hinted that the committee would be wary of contacting him because of his ability to clear Trump’s name.
“They don’t want to know anything about me. I exonerate Trump and Bannon,” he told the Daily Beast in 2021.
The panel was eager to learn about Navarro’s so-called “Sweep Green Bay” plan to overturn the 2020 election results and other details he may have had related to Trump’s broader efforts to thwart the election.
After his challenge, Congress voted to find him guilty of contempt and referred the matter to the Justice Department, which then indicted him in June of last year.
Navarro is not the only Trump administration alum to oppose a subpoena demand from the panel.
Navarro is one of at least four former Trump officials who have objected to a January 6 Committee subpoena.REUTERS
He was joined by at least three other people, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
The Justice Department brought charges against Navarro and Bannon, but not Scavino and Meadows.
Last year, Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt, but has since appealed the case.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn