WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was accused Friday of refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the Department of Justice saved two more advisers, including former President’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, from the criminal charge.
The department’s decision not to prosecute Meadows and Dan Scavino, another adviser to former President Donald Trump, was revealed in a letter sent Friday by a federal prosecutor to a House attorney. The measure was reported hours after Navarro’s indictment and a subsequent and arduous appearance in court in which he pledged to challenge charges of contempt in Congress.
The boom in activity comes just days before the House Committee, which is leading the investigation into the riots at the Capitol, held a hearing at prime time with the aim of presenting to the American public evidence that it has gathered on how to developed the assault. It shows how the Department of Justice has chosen to assess on a case-by-case basis the references of contempt it has received from Congress instead of automatically opting for charges against each and every Trump aide who has resisted congressional summonses.
Although the Justice Department has sent several Trump aides for possible prosecution for refusing to cooperate, Navarro is only the second to face criminal charges, following the indictment last fall of the former US aide. White House Steve Bannon.
Navarro, 72, was charged with felony criminal mischief for failing to appear before a House committee statement and a second charge for failing to file documents requested by the committee.
During a first court appearance on Friday, Navarro alleged that the Justice Department had committed “tax misconduct” and said he was told he could not contact anyone after he was approached by a law enforcement officer on Friday. the FBI at the airport and handcuffed. He said he was arrested while trying to board a flight to Nashville, Tennessee, for a television appearance.
“Who are these people? This is not America, “Navarro said.” I was a distinguished public servant for four years! ”
During the hearing, he said the House committee was a “farce committee” and said prosecutors were “playing ball” and were “despicable”. If convicted, each charge carries a minimum sentence of one month in prison and a maximum of one year behind bars.
Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland have faced pressure to act more quickly to decide whether to prosecute other Trump aides who have similarly challenged House panel citations.
The New York Times first reported the decision not to charge Meadows and Scavino. A person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed it to The Associated Press on Friday.
The indictment alleges that Navarro, when summoned to appear before the committee for a statement, refused to do so and instead told the court that since Trump had invoked the privilege of the executive, “I have my hands tied.”
After committee staff told him they believed there were issues he could talk about without raising any concerns about the executive’s privilege, Navarro again refused, and ordered the committee to negotiate directly with Trump, according to the indictment. The committee proceeded with its scheduled deposition on March 2, but Navarro did not attend.
The indictment came days after Navarro revealed in a court document that he had also been summoned to appear before a grand jury this week as part of the Justice Department’s extensive investigation into the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“This was a preventive strike by the prosecution against this lawsuit,” Navarro told Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui during his court appearance. “It simply goes against good faith and due process.”
Navarro, who was Trump’s commercial adviser, said the FBI notified him of the subpoena at his Washington, DC home last week. The subpoena was the first known instance of prosecutors requesting testimony from someone who worked at Trump’s White House while investigating the attack. Prosecutors said the indictment was handed down on Thursday night.
Navarro argued in his lawsuit on Tuesday that the select committee of the House investigating the attack is illegal, and therefore a subpoena he issued in February is inapplicable by law.
He filed a lawsuit against members of the committee, President Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, and U.S. Attorney in Washington, Matthew M. Graves, whose office is now in charge of the criminal case against him.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Navarro said the scope of his lawsuit is much broader than the citations themselves, part of an effort by “the Supreme Court to address a number of issues that have arisen. with the armament of the investigation of the Congress “. powers ”since Trump took office.
Members of the select committee called for Navarro’s testimony about his public efforts to help Trump cancel the 2020 presidential election, including a call to try to persuade state lawmakers to join forces.
The former economics professor was one of the White House staff members who promoted Trump’s baseless allegations of massive election fraud. Trump, in turn, promoted an extensive report Navarro released in December 2020, which Navarro falsely claimed contained evidence of alleged misconduct and election fraud “more than enough” to give victory to his former boss.
Committee members presented their case at a time when Scavino and Navarro were among only a handful of people who had rejected the committee’s requests and citations.
Despite opposition from several Trump allies, the Jan. 6 panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has managed to interview more than 1,000 witnesses to the insurgency in the past 11 months and is now preparing to begin a series of public hearings. next week. Panel lawmakers expect the half-dozen hearings to be a high-profile broadcast of the causes and consequences of the internal attack on the U.S. government.
Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press