EXCLUSIVE: Watchdog Group Says Appeals Court Must Revisit Navarro Conviction

A conservative watchdog group called for a federal appeals court to reconsider a ruling upholding the conviction of Peter Navarro, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers in both his first and second terms.

The Oversight Project filed an amicus brief late Tuesday in Navarro’s appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Navarro spent four months in prison on a contempt of Congress conviction stemming from his defiance of a subpoena from the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack. Navarro, who pushed a plan to delay certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, argued he had executive privilege in his role as a presidential adviser, and a separate branch of government could not compel him to share documents and testify about his actions.

The Oversight Project filed an amicus brief late Tuesday in Navarro’s appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Navarro spent four months in prison on a contempt of Congress conviction for his defiance of a congressional subpoena. Navarro, who was subpoenaed to testify about his plan to delay certification of the 2020 election, argued he had executive privilege in his role as a presidential adviser.

In July, a three-judge panel of two Barack Obama appointees and one Joe Biden appointee on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed his conviction. Navarro then asked for a rehearing, and the Oversight Project supported his appeal.

“This case is about separation of powers and a huge ambiguity in a federal criminal statute weaponized during the Biden administration,” Oversight Project Director of Litigation Jeff Clark said in a statement.

The separation of powers argument contends that a presidential adviser should have a reasonable expectation of confidentiality from another branch of government for his counsel.

TRENDING ARTICLES

news

Declassified Documents Reveal Democrats’, Deep State Targeting of Sessions in Russia Probe

Fred Lucas

opinion

Mamdani Blames E-Bike Sellers for Crisis He Refuses to Police

Jarrett Stepman

opinion

Don’t Let Socialists Fool You: They Still Want to Abolish Police, and Prisons Too

Jarrett Stepman

Navarro was arrested at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in June 2022 on the contempt of Congress charge, as he was leaving for a speaking engagement in Nashville. Clark noted that Navarro was imprisoned “without being able to present to the jury any defense based on his good-faith belief that President Trump had invoked executive privilege to protect the candid counsel he received from Dr. Navarro.”

“This court should grant rehearing en banc to address the exceptionally important issues we lay out,” Clark added.

After Trump disputed Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, Navarro wrote a report called “The Green Bay Sweep” that argued then-Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, could delay certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021, under the Electoral Count Act.

The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack subpoenaed Navarro for material related to his report. He responded to the committee that his advice to the president was protected.

The D.C. appeals court held that “privilege must be claimed by the President (current or former) or an official authorized by the President to claim it.”

The Oversight Project’s amicus brief, first shared with the Daily Signal, says, “This case presents a question of exceptional importance that the en banc Court alone can resolve: whether a citizen may be branded a federal criminal for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena when he did not know, and had no reason to believe, that his conduct was unlawful.”

Oversight Project President Mike Howell said, “Leave no MAGA behind,” referring to the defense of those who claimed they were targets of a politically weaponized justice system during the Biden administration.

“We will never forget what they did to our people and will do again if they get the chance,” Howell said.