By LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — On Thursday, an appeals court rejected Peter Navarro's attempt to avoid going to jail for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation during his time as a Trump White House official.
Navarro has been told to show up at a federal prison by March 19. He argued that he should be allowed to remain free while he appeals his conviction for not cooperating with the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
However, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. disagreed, saying that it was unlikely his appeal would overturn his conviction. His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but they had previously indicated that they planned to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Navarro was the second Trump aide to be convicted of contempt of Congress charges. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon had previously received a four-month sentence, but a different judge allowed him to remain free while he appealed.
Navarro was found guilty of ignoring a request for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee. He had worked as a White House trade adviser under then-President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Navarro has said he could not cooperate with the committee because Trump had claimed executive privilege. However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta prevented him from using that argument in court, finding that he did not prove that Trump had actually invoked it.
