USA
Former Trump advisor Navarro begins prison sentence
Peter Navarro in federal court in Washington. photo
© Mark Schiefelbein/AP/dpa
Former Trump confidant Navarro was found guilty of contempt of the US Congress. Now he has to go to prison for it.
Former economic advisor to ex-US President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, has started a four-month prison sentence. On Tuesday, the 74-year-old appeared in a prison in Miami, Florida, as US media consistently reported, including the New York Times and CNN. Navarro’s request to the Supreme Court to prevent him from going into custody for the time being in view of an ongoing appeal process failed on Monday.
Jurors found Navarro guilty of contempt of Congress last September. He had refused to release documents and testify before a House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Navarro argues he failed to comply with the subpoena because Trump instructed him to say he was exempt under government secrecy laws. He also repeated this statement at a press conference on Tuesday shortly before his entry into custody.
Bannon initially remained at large
Before Navarro, Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, had already been sentenced to four months in prison. However, Bannon also appealed and initially remained at large. This makes Navarro the first close Trump confidante to actually serve a prison sentence in connection with the Capitol storm.
Trump himself is also accused of what happened in Washington. If convicted, the 77-year-old could face decades in prison. In the middle of the election year, the Republican is faced with a total of four criminal proceedings. However, he managed to use legal maneuvers to delay several of these trials against him, including the one in the US capital.
Trump’s supporters stormed the parliament building there on January 6, 2021. At that time, Congress formally confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Trump incited his supporters during a speech by claiming that he had been robbed of his election victory through massive fraud. As a result of the riots, five people died. To this day, Trump does not recognize his defeat against Biden. He wants to move back into the White House after the presidential election in November.