(RepublicanPress.org) – In September 2023, jurors for the US District Court for the District of Columbia convicted Peter Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress related to his refusal to produce documents or provide sworn testimony under a Congressional subpoena. Four months later, District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta sentenced the former Trump administration official to pay $9,500 in fines and serve four months in prison. A recent report indicated that his report date to begin serving his sentence has been set.
On March 11, media outlets like ABC News reported that Navarro’s lawyers filed documents the previous night with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals confirming their client has until 2 p.m. Eastern, to report to a Miami area prison to start serving his sentence. The pleading “respectfully [restated] his request for an administrative stay” in his case.
Ex-Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been ordered to report to jail on March 19 to begin his four-month sentence for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. https://t.co/W21M35ySHM
— ABC News (@ABC) March 11, 2024
Evidence presented at trial convinced the jury that the former head of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy refused to appear and produce documents as directed by a subpoena issued by the Democratic-led House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol Building.
Navarro’s attorneys filed an appeal to his sentence and asked the court to delay any further action pending the outcome of that petition. However, Mehta declined, telling his lawyers during his sentencing hearing that his claims of executive immunity weren’t “a get-out-of-jail free card” or a kind of “magical dust.”
Mehta responded to a subsequent request in February, issuing a ruling ordering Navarro to “report to the designated'” US Bureau of Prisons facility as ordered unless the DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his decision. Mehta also noted that Navarro failed to factually support his claim that his prosecution was “motivated by political bias.”
Whether the DC Circuit will respond to Navarro’s motion before his report date remains unclear. If he reports to prison as scheduled, Navarro will be the first Trump administration official to serve prison time for their alleged role in alleged White House efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
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