OAN’s Abril Elfi
5:57 PM – Thursday, September 7, 2023
Former Donald Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, has been convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena related to the January 6th event.
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On Thursday, a jury deliberated for roughly four hours at a federal courthouse in Washington before convicting Navarro on two counts of contempt for refusing to testify before a House January 6th committee where he would be asked to turn over subpoenaed papers.
Navarro spoke to reporters outside of the courthouse after the deliberation.
“Sad day for America, not because of the guilty verdicts, but because I can’t come out and have an honest, decent conversation with the people of America,” he said. “This is nuts.”
The former Republican adviser also complained about the “divide” in the country, and “the woke Marxist left.”
He also added that he was not surprised about the quick verdict and pledged to appeal.
“We knew going in what the verdict was going to be. That is why this is going to the appeals court,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. “And we feel – look, I said from the beginning this is going to the Supreme Court. I said from the beginning I’m willing to go to prison to settle this issue, I’m willing to do that.”
After the verdict was announced, Navarro’s counsel asked for a mistrial, claiming that the jury had left the courthouse for a break during deliberations and would have been exposed to protesters carrying banners outside, which could have tainted their non-biased perspective.
Navarro’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, said that the jury announced its decision roughly 10 minutes after the break.
In his closing argument, Woodward also said that the government had failed to prove Navarro was guilty of criminal contempt of Congress.
“For the government to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, it also has to prove that Dr. Navarro’s failure to comply with the subpoena was not the result of accident, mistake or inadvertence,” Woodward said. “This case is about those three words.”
The attorney then added that the government failed to tell jurors where Navarro was when he was meant to appear for his deposition with the January 6th committee.
Prosecutor John Crabb argued that it does not matter where he was but: “what matters is where he wasn’t.”
Navarro has stated that he did not present since former President Donald Trump advised him to declare executive privilege in the matter, despite the fact that Trump never communicated this to the Jan. 6 committee or filed any evidence in Navarro’s case indicating that he had done so.
Prosecutors claimed Navarro had a duty to appear and answer whatever questions he could.
Additionally, he had been indicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress, including one for failing to provide documents and the other for failing to provide testimony.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta scheduled sentencing for January 12th.
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