March 11 (UPI) — Former Trump administration official Peter Navarro has been ordered to report by March 19 to a Miami jail to begin a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.
Navarro, 74, could become the first person in former Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to serve time in jail for their role to overturn the 2020 election, but Navarro is urging a federal appeals court judge to hold off on the prison date while he attempts to overturn the conviction.
He was sentenced in January to four months in jail on two charges of contempt of Congress after being convicted in September on two charges of contempt of Congress for Navarro’s refusal to comply with a subpoena related to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In court documents filed Sunday, Navarro’s legal team contend that “these and a plethora of presidential privilege issues must be decided by this court as part of Dr. Navarro’s appeal,” arguing at one point how “it has been the position of the Department of Justice for more than a half-century that senior presidential advisers may not be subject to congressional subpoena.”
It would be considered a “rare” move if Navarro’s appeal to remain out of prison until he can appeal his conviction is approved by a judge.
Navarro served as an assistant to former President Trump, as well as director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
