US Capitol’s ‘600 Rooms’ Spurred Subpoena Confusion, Ex-Trump Aide Says in Jan. 6 Case
(Bloomberg) -- Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is arguing in his criminal contempt case that a subpoena left out the room in which he was to testify before the US House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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The Capitol building has 600 rooms and the subpoena didn’t specify which one, Navarro’s lawyer John Rowley said at a hearing Thursday in federal court in Washington. He added that the panel later changed the site of the deposition to a different building altogether.
The committee tried to set the details of the deposition with Navarro by emailing him and asking him to contact it to discuss them, according to a House report. Committee staff messaged him the night before his scheduled testimony and appeared to provide a location, which is redacted in the report.
Read More: Former Trump Aide Navarro Is Indicted for Defying Subpoena
Navarro has pleaded not guilty to two counts of contempt filed after he declined to testify in the committee’s probe of the January 2021 assault on the Capitol and to hand over documents in response to the subpoena. He served under Donald Trump, who as president refused to accept his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 election. In July, a jury found longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon guilty of the same contempt charges.
As part of his defense, Navarro will question the validity of the subpoena. He is also trying to show that the charges against him were politically motivated.
The case is US v. Navarro, 22-cr-200, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
Read More: Trump Aide Navarro Tells Judge He Needs Time to Promote His Book
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