House Jan. 6 committee to vote on criminal contempt charges for Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will vote this week on recommending criminal contempt of Congress charges for two former aides to President Trump.

The select committee is set to meet Monday to consider the charges for Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro and former deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino.

Mr. Navarro, who refused to appear before the committee for a scheduled deposition this month, called the committee’s move an “unprecedented partisan assault on executive privilege.”

“The committee knows full well that President Trump has invoked executive privilege and it is not my privilege to waive,” Mr. Navarro said in a statement. “If President Trump waives the privilege, I would be happy to testify. It is premature for the committee to pursue criminal charges against an individual of the highest rank within the White House for whom executive privilege undeniably applies.”

Upon receiving his subpoena last month, Mr. Navarro signaled that he is unlikely to testify until the committee negotiates Mr. Trump’s claim of executive privilege. 

Mr. Trump raised the executive privilege claim in a lawsuit to block the release of White House documents to the committee. The Supreme Court rejected Mr. Trump’s appeal to block the release, citing President Biden’s decision that executive privilege did not apply to the release of documents created under the previous administration. 

Mr. Scavino, who the committee subpoenaed in October, said soon after being served that he had various legal concerns about appearing before the panel, including unsettled matters with regards to Mr. Trump’s claims of executive privilege. 

Several other former advisers, in refusing to testify before the panel, have cited the former president’s claims of executive privilege and the need to keep Oval Office conversations private.

The committee has voted to hold three witnesses in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify: former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark. All three cited Mr. Trump’s claims as grounds for their refusal. 

“Until this matter has been settled at the Supreme Court, where it is inevitably headed, the committee should cease its tactics of harassment and intimidation,” Mr. Navarro said Thursday. “I would be happy to cooperate with the committee in expediting a review of this matter by the Supreme Court and look forward to arguing the case.”