WASHINGTON − Peter Navarro, who was President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court on Friday in hopes of avoiding being locked up on Tuesday.
Navarro wants to stay free as he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.
He was sentenced in January to four months in prison for refusing to testify or provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The Bureau of Prisons scheduled Navarro to report for detention by 2 p.m. Tuesday in Miami – unless the Supreme Court intervenes.
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Thursday that Navarro was unlikely to win his appeal and refused to postpone his sentence.
Navarro “has not shown that his appeal presents substantial questions of law or fact likely to result in reversal, a new trial, a sentence that does not include a term of imprisonment, or a reduced sentence of imprisonment that is less than the amount of time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process,” Judges Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and Robert Wilkins ruled.
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Navarro told the Supreme Court he shouldn’t be locked up while he’s still appealing the conviction because he’s not likely to flee the country and poses no danger to public safety. He also said he is raising issues in his appeal that could overturn his conviction, including what action was required by Trump for a “proper” invocation of executive privilege.
What is Peter Navarro arguing at the appeals court?
Navarro argues that Trump had asserted executive privilege to keep their communications confidential and block his testimony. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found no evidence Trump did that.
Even if Trump had asserted the privilege, Navarro would have still had to appear before the committee and invoke the privilege, Mehta ruled. The committee could have asked him questions unrelated to Navarro’s communications with Trump, including his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Mehta ordered Navarro to be jailed pending his appeal because the issues he was raising were potentially doubtful or frivolous.
The appeals court also ruled that even if executive privilege were invoked, Navarro’s indictment still wouldn’t necessarily be dismissed because of “the imperative need for evidence,” the judges wrote.
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