The House committee investigating the Capitol riot voted unanimously Monday to hold former Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with the panel’s subpoenas.
The matter now goes to the full House which could refer the contempt charge to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.
“They are obligated to comply with our investigation. They have refused to do so, and that’s a crime,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the committee.
Mr. Navarro and Mr. Scavino remained defiant of the Democrat-led panel’s pressure to testify about their and former President Trump’s actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
Mr. Navarro, a former White House trade adviser, dismissed the probe as a “witch hunt” targeting him and others who served in the Trump administration.
He has long maintained that his knowledge of goings-on at the White House was protected as “privileged” information.
“My position remains this is not my executive privilege to waive and the committee should negotiate this matter with President Trump,” Mr. Navarro said in a statement. “If he waives the privilege, I will be happy to comply; but I see no effort by the committee to clarify this matter with President Trump, which is bad faith and bad law.”
Members of the panel dismissed Mr. Navarro’s claims. They argued that Mr. Navarro had already exposed much of the information they had sought to further gain in his book, “In Trump Time,” which was released last year.
Separately on Monday, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly agreed to appear next week before the House committee investigating the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.
Mr. Kushner, who served as a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, will appear virtually in front of the panel, according to ABC News. His appearance is voluntary.
The committee has moved aggressively in recent days, including requesting an interview with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife and a conservative activist who pressed Trump White House officials to try to overturn the 2020 election results.
Revelations of Mrs. Thomas’ texts also prompted Democratic lawmakers to demand Justice Thomas recuse himself from cases related to Mr. Trump and the 2020 election.
SEE ALSO: Jan. 6 committee unveils contempt reports for Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino
Ahead of Monday’s contempt vote, the committee released a report detailing how Mr. Scavino and Mr. Navarro refused to participate in the probe.
The committee claims Mr. Scavino refused to give an interview, despite being afforded six extensions of the deadline for a deposition.
Mr. Scavino served as Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff and social media director at the White House.
The panel also alleged that Mr. Scavino knew of strategic protocols ahead of the riot made in online forums about inciting potential violence on Jan. 6.
The committee has pursued criminal charges against several others who have refused to comply with their requests for information and interviews.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by the Justice Department on contempt charges sought by the committee and faces a criminal trial this summer.
Congress also voted to send the Justice Department a criminal referral against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows over the same offense, though Justice is still reviewing that referral.
Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department staffer under Trump, had been referred for criminal charges, but it did not go to the full House after he agreed to participate in an interview with the committee.
Mr. Clark invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions over 100 times during the interview.
The committee is made up of seven Democrats and Republicans Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger are among the most vocal anti-Trump members of the GOP conference. They also voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot.
After being impeached by the Democratic-run House, Mr. Trump was acquitted by the Senate in early 2021.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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