Trump aide Peter Navarro jailed for 4 months after defying January 6 court summons

Navarro is the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress charges after ex-White House adviser Steve Bannon, who also got a 4-month sentence

Navarro was found guilty of defying a summons for documents and a deposition from the House January 6 committee

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Peter Navarro, former White House trade adviser, at federal court in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:45am, 26 Jan 2024Updated: 5:05am, 26 Jan 2024

Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, was sentenced on Thursday to four months behind bars.

He was the second Trump aide convicted of contempt of Congress charges, after former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who also got a four-month sentence but is free pending appeal.

Navarro was found guilty of defying a summons for documents and a deposition from the House January 6 committee. He served as a White House trade adviser under then-president Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Navarro has vowed to appeal the verdict, saying he could not cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. A judge barred him from making that argument at trial, however, finding that he did not show Trump had actually invoked it.

Steve Bannon, former White House adviser. Photo: Reuters

Navarro said in court before his sentencing on Thursday that the House committee investigating the January 6 attack had led him to believe that it accepted his invocation of executive privilege.