Judge orders Peter Navarro, a former White House aide to Donald Trump, jailed while appealing contempt conviction

WASHINGTON – A federal judge ordered Peter Navarro, who was a trade adviser to former President Donald Trump, to be jailed while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.

Navarro, who faces four months in jail, refused to testify or provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Navarro argued that Trump had asserted executive privilege to keep their communications confidential and block his testimony.

But U.S. Judge Amit Mehta found no evidence Trump invoked executive privilege. Even if Trump had asserted the privilege, Navarro would have still had to appear before the committee and invoke the privilege, Mehta ruled. The committee could have asked him questions unrelated to Navarro’s communications with Trump, including his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The Bureau of Prisons has not yet contacted Navarro around a date for reporting, one of his lawyers, John Rowley, said Friday.

Navarro plans to appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and to ask that court to hold off on jailing him until the case is resolved, Rowley said.

The House committee sought to question Navarro because, in his 2021 book "In Trump Time," Navarro described a scheme to delay certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 election he called the "Green Bay Sweep" and said it was the "last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit."

The committee said in its letter to Navarro that he had said Trump and "more than 100 members of Congress were 'on board with the strategy.'" The committee also said Navarro released a three-page report on his website that repeated claims of purported fraud in the election that have been discredited by state and local officials.

Navarro was convicted in September and sentenced Jan. 25 to four months in jail and fined $9,500.

On Thursday, Mehta ruled that Navarro would be jailed pending his appeal because the issues he was raising were potentially doubtful or frivolous.

Mehta didn't set a deadline for Navarro to be jailed but left it to the Bureau of Prisons. The bureau doesn't release information about a potential prisoner until after the person is detained.

Navarro has asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction and sentence. The appeals court must now decide whether to let him remain free while considering the appeal.

Navarro is one of four people the House voted to recommend the Justice Department prosecute during the Jan. 6 probe. Political strategist Steve Bannon was also convicted, sentenced to four months in jail and has appealed.

But the department decided against charging former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge orders former Trump aide Peter Navarro jailed during contempt appeal