[ad_1]
Donald Trump White Home official Peter Navarro, who was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced on Thursday to 4 months behind bars.
He was the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress charges. Former White Home adviser Steve Bannon beforehand acquired a four-month sentence however is free pending enchantment.
Navarro was discovered responsible of defying a subpoena for paperwork and a deposition from the Home Jan. 6 committee. He served as a White Home commerce adviser beneath the previous President and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud within the 2020 election he misplaced to Democrat Joe Biden.
U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta advised Navarro that it took “chutzpah” for him to claim that he accepted duty for his actions whereas additionally suggesting that his prosecution was politically motivated.
“You aren’t a sufferer. You aren’t the item of a political prosecution,” the choose mentioned. “These are circumstances of your personal making.”
Navarro’s attorneys filed a discover that he’s interesting his conviction and sentence.
Navarro has mentioned he couldn’t cooperate with the committee as a result of Trump had invoked government privilege. The choose barred him from making that argument at trial, nonetheless, discovering that he didn’t present Trump had truly invoked it.
Navarro mentioned in court docket earlier than his sentencing Thursday that the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault had led him to consider that it accepted his invocation of government privilege.
“No person in my place needs to be put in battle between the legislative department and the chief department,” he advised the choose.
Mehta mentioned that asserting government privilege shouldn’t be “magic mud to keep away from an obligation.”
“It’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” the choose added.
A federal prosecutor, John Crabb Jr., advised the choose that the Justice Division enforces the regulation “with out concern, favor or political affect.”
“This can be a righteous prosecution,” Crabb mentioned.
Greater than 1,200 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Greater than 100 cops had been injured throughout clashes with the mob of Trump supporters who disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Biden’s victory over Trump.
The Home committee spent 18 months investigating the revolt, interviewing over 1,000 witnesses, holding 10 hearings and acquiring greater than 1 million pages of paperwork. In its final report, the panel in the end concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the election outcomes and didn’t act to cease his supporters from storming the Capitol.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied doing something improper.
Navarro’s legal professionals had suggested him to not deal with the choose on Thursday, however he mentioned he needed to talk after listening to the choose specific disappointment in him. Responding to a query about why he didn’t initially search a lawyer’s counsel, he advised the choose, “I didn’t know what to do, sir.”
The choose mentioned Navarro ought to have recognized how to answer a subpoena from the Home committee as a result of he acquired one a number of weeks after Bannon was charged with prison contempt of Congress.
“I do know you suppose it’s a political hatchet job,” Mehta advised Navarro. “(The Home committee) had a job to do, and also you made it more durable. It’s actually that easy.”
The choose is permitting Navarro’s protection to submit a written temporary on the query of permitting him to stay free pending enchantment.
Justice Division prosecutors mentioned Navarro tried to “disguise behind claims of privilege” even earlier than he knew what the committee needed, exhibiting a “disdain” for the committee that ought to warrant an extended sentence. Prosecutors had requested a choose to condemn him to 6 months behind bars and impose a $200,000 advantageous.
Protection attorneys mentioned Trump did declare executive privilege, placing Navarro in an “untenable place,” and so they had requested for a sentence of probation and a $100 advantageous.
The choose ordered Navarro to pay a $9,500 advantageous.
Protection lawyer Stanley Woodward mentioned Navarro believed that he was “responsibility certain” to claim government privilege.
“He needn’t be punished to show a degree,” Woodward advised the choose.
Bannon, who additionally made executive-privilege arguments, was convicted of two counts.
Navarro’s sentencing comes after a choose rejected his bid for a brand new trial. His attorneys had argued that jurors might have been improperly influenced by political protesters exterior the courthouse after they took a break from deliberations. Shortly after their break, the jurors discovered Navarro responsible of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress.
However the choose discovered that Navarro didn’t present that the eight-minute break had any impact on the September verdict. He discovered no protest was underway and nobody approached the jurors — they interacted solely with one another and the court docket officer assigned to accompany them.
___
Republished with permission of The Related Press.
Publish Views: 0
[ad_2]
Source link