WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s request that he be released from prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction.
It was the second time the court declined to keep Navarro from serving his four-month sentence.
Navarro was locked up on March 19 after Chief Justice John Roberts said he saw no reason to disagree with a lower court’s decision denying Navarro’s request to remain free on appeal.
Fifteen days later, Navarro’s lawyers asked the court to reconsider Roberts’ decision. The lawyers pointed out that Navarro’s appeal for the contempt conviction will be not heard until after he’s completed his sentence.
He’s serving his time at a federal Bureau of Prisons satellite camp for elderly male inmates in Miami.
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Navarro was convicted in September for refusing to testify or provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Navarro, a former trade adviser, has maintained that he couldn’t cooperate with the House inquiry because former President Donald Trump had asserted executive privilege to keep their communications confidential. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found no evidence Trump did that.
Even if Trump had, Mehta ruled Navarro was obligated to appear before the committee to refuse to answer specific questions.
Navarro had argued he should remain free while appealing 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 constitutes a “proper” invocation of executive privilege.
The Jan. 6 committee wanted to question Navarro because he wrote, in his 2021 book “In Trump Time,” about the scheme to delay certification of President Joe Biden’s election. Navarro described the scheme as the “Green Bay Sweep” and said it was the “last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.”
Navarro said in a later interview that Trump was “on board with the strategy,” according to the committee.
Another Trump aide, political strategist Steve Bannon, also refused to cooperate with the committee. He was convicted of contempt of Congress and also sentenced to four months in jail, but he remains free on appeal.
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