Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s former White House trade advisor, was reporting to a Florida prison on Tuesday to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.
Navarro, 74, is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt in September for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist, had asked the Supreme Court to allow him to remain free while appealing his conviction, but Chief Justice John Roberts rejected his last-ditch request on Monday.
Navarro, the architect of the “Green Bay Sweep,” a plot to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results, is serving his sentence at a minimum security federal prison in Miami.
He spoke to reporters in a parking lot before heading to the prison.
“Every person who has taken me on this road to that prison is a friggin’ Democrat and a Trump hater,” he said. “I will walk proudly in there and do my time.
“I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee for the Republican presidential campaign.”
Navarro refused to appear for a deposition before the House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6 attack on Congress and declined to supply documents to the panel.
He was convicted of contempt by a federal jury in Washington after a two-day trial.
Navarro is the second close Trump ally to be convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House committee.
Steve Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was also found guilty of contempt of Congress.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison in January but remains free pending an appeal.
Trump was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
His trial has been put on hold, however, until the Supreme Court hears Trump’s claim that as a former president he is immune from criminal prosecution.
The Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in the immunity case for April 25.
Trump, 77, was impeached for a second time by the House after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate.
