After being found guilty last September of defying a congressional subpoena related to the investigation into Jan. 6, 2021, former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to pay a $9,500 fine and serve four months in a federal prison.
Thursday's ruling marks the second time a former Trump White House official has been sentenced to prison for contempt of Congress. Steve Bannon was similarly sentenced to a four-month stint. His case is now pending appeal. The two Trump aides attempted to avoid appearing before the House committee investigating the attack on Congress and the 2020 election, citing executive privilege because they worked in the White House with the president.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta disagreed, however, telling Navarro Thursday that it took “chutzpah” for him to continue to claim that his prosecution was politically motivated.
“I know you think it's a political hatchet job,” Mehta told Navarro. "(The House committee) had a job to do, and you made it harder. It's really that simple."
“You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution,” the judge said. “These are circumstances of your own making."
Executive privilege, he explained, is not “magic dust to avoid a duty."
He continued: “It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
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