WASHINGTON — Trump White House official Peter Navarro appealed to the Supreme Court Friday to allow him to stay out of prison as he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction.
Navarro is due to report to a federal prison next week, after an appeals court ruled that his appeal wasn’t likely to overturn his conviction for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro has maintained that he couldn’t cooperate with the committee because former President Donald Trump had invoked executive privilege. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, barred him from making that argument at trial, finding that he didn’t show Trump had actually invoked it.
The emergency application comes as the Supreme Court separately prepares to hear arguments on whether Trump himself has presidential immunity from charges alleging he interfered in the 2020 election.
Navarro was the second Trump aide convicted of misdemeanor contempt of Congress charges. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four-month sentence but was allowed to stay free pending appeal by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump.
Navarro was found guilty of defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee and sentenced to four months in prison. He served as a White House trade adviser under then-President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
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