
Former Donald Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro was convicted on Thursday of contempt of Congress for not complying to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, CNN reports.
Navarro is the second ex-aide to the former President to be prosecuted for his lack of cooperation with the committee, after Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two contempt counts. Bannon’s case is currently on appeal.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was also found to be in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with the committee’s subpoena.
Prosecutors told the jury during closing arguments Thursday that Navarro “made a choice” not to comply with a February 2022 subpoena, according to CNN.
Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Aloi said that government only works if people play by the rules and are held accountable if they don’t.
“The subpoena – it is not hard to understand,” she said, adding that Navarro knew “what he was required to do and when he was required to do it.”
Navarro’s attorney Stanley Woodward contested the idea that the subpoena was simple, staying that the subpoena did not specify where in the Capitol complex Navarro was supposed to show up for his deposition.
He also said that prosecutors failed to prove that Navarro was willful in his failure to comply with the subpoena, arguing that prosecutors hadn’t established that his non-compliance with the demand for testimony was not the result of a mistake or accident.
The House committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol riots voted unanimously in March of last year to hold Navarro as well as Trump adviser Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress.