Peter Navarro sentenced to four months in prison for defying Jan. 6 committee

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta handed down the sentence Thursday, describing Navarro’s refusal to testify or provide documents to the panel as an affront to a branch of government seeking to understand a harrowing attack on democracy.

“In all of this, even today, there is little acknowledgement of what your obligation is as an American to cooperate with Congress, to provide them with information they are seeking,” Mehta said. “They 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,” Mehta added. “These are circumstances of your own making.”

The sentence followed nearly
two years of proceedings that became entangled with complicated questions about executive privilege — and whether Navarro’s defiance could be considered criminal if he believed that Trump had wanted him to protect the confidentiality of their conversations.

Mehta acknowledged the historic significance of those questions, but he said nothing excused Navarro’s blanket defiance, particularly aimed at a congressional panel seeking to understand an attack on the transfer of presidential power. He also scolded Navarro for making public comments attributing his prosecution to politics rather than his own conduct.

“Nancy Pelosi’s not responsible for your prosecution. Joe Biden’s not responsible for your prosecution,” Mehta said. “It’s those kinds of statements from somebody who knows better … that contributes to why our politics are so corrosive.”

Mehta declined to immediately rule on Navarro’s bid to remain free while he appeals his conviction. If he ultimately rejects it, Navarro would likely be the first senior Trump White House aide to spend time in prison, despite legal trouble swirling around several others for years.

Navarro is in fact the second Trump ally convicted of contempt of Congress charges for refusing to provide documents or testimony to the Jan. 6 committee. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon
was sentenced to four months in prison by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in 2022. Nichols postponed that sentence while Bannon appeals. A three-judge panel heard Bannon’s appeal in November, and a decision remains pending.

Navarro made a last-ditch appeal for leniency to Mehta, addressing the court even after his lawyers had initially said he wouldn’t. He said he grew confused about the thicket of precedents and rules around executive privilege and believed he didn’t have to comply with Congress’ subpoena.

“I’m a Harvard-educated gentleman, but the learning curve when they come at you with the biggest law firm in the world is very, very steep,” Navarro said.

The Jan. 6 committee had planned to interview Navarro about his work in the aftermath of the 2020 election to stoke discredited claims of election fraud and to strategize with members of Congress on a plan to block or delay the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Navarro and Bannon pushed a plan that they dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep” to encourage members of Congress to mount prolonged challenges to Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, when lawmakers met to certify the results.

Prosecutors said Navarro “thumbed his nose” at the House select committee and should be punished to the maximum extent of the law — a
six-month sentence. They said the decision to charge Navarro was made by career employees at DOJ and was about upholding the law, not serving a political agenda.