A federal judge who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama has sentenced former Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro to four months in federal prison.
Navarro was indicted on charges of contempt of Congress in 2022 after he refused to respond to a subpoena from the partisan House select committee that said it was investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion at the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro, 74, declined to speak with the committee, citing executive privilege because the focus of their interest consisted of private conversations between him and former President Donald Trump.
The trade expert was indicted and arrested by the FBI at an airport in 2022, despite the fact he said he had been in contact with agents and that he had communicated to them he was willing to surrender at a date and time of their request.
He was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress last year.
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District Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday ordered Navarro to spend four months and to pay a fine of $9,500.
Reuters reported attorneys for Navarro asked for a sentence of probation for their client after prosecutors asked for a prison sentence of six months.
Navarro has no previous criminal record and he argued he was bound to remain quiet when Trump asserted executive privilege in relation to the information requested by the House committee.
In court on Thursday, Navarro said of the committee, “When I received that congressional subpoena … I had an honest belief that the [executive] privilege had been invoked,” CBS News reported.
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On the prosecution’s insistence that he spend time in prison, Navarro said there was no reason for the harsh punishment.
Reuters further reported Judge Mehta criticized Navarro over previous comments he made about President Joe Biden and a Justice Department many Americans feel has been weaponized against conservatives.
“Joe Biden is not responsible for your prosecution,” Mehta said.
The judge added, “It’s those kinds of statements from somebody who knows better that contributes to why our politics are so corrosive.”
According to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Mehta also said:
“I guess what bothers me ultimately is that here we are after a year and a half plus, and you still want to suggest to me that this is a political prosecution.
“You want me to believe this is a political prosecution … You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are the circumstances of your own making.”
Mehta was nominated to the bench in July 2014 by Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December of that year.
