Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro to go to prison after Supreme Court rejects his appeal

NPR Washington Desk | NPR

March 18th, 2024

Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, followed by demonstrators, leaves the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Washington, Jan. 25, 2024. An appeals court Thursday, March 14, denied Navarro’s bid to stave off his jail sentence on contempt of Congress charges for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro has been ordered to report to a federal prison by March 19. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to save former Trump adviser Peter Navarro from serving his four-month prison term. Navarro has been ordered to report to prison on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court’s order came from Chief Justice John Roberts, who acted alone, though it is unlikely that there were serious objections from other justices.

In September, Navarro, who served as a trade adviser in the Trump administration, was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents and testimony related to the January 6th attack on the capitol. He was sentenced in January to four months in prison.

He is the second former Trump insider to be convicted of contempt of Congress. Steve Bannon was found guilty in 2022 of the same charges and sentenced to four months in prison. Bannon appealed his conviction, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard arguments in November of 2023, but has not yet issued a decision in his case.

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Navarro case Monday could well speed a decision in the Bannon case.