Grand jury indicts former Trump adviser Peter Navarro for contempt of Congress

By Evan Perez, Paula Reid, Tierney Sneed and Zachary Cohen, CNN

    (CNN) -- A federal grand jury has indicted former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro for contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate in the House January 6 committee's investigation.

Navarro was arrested by the FBI on Friday. He is currently in custody, according to Bill Miller, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office in DC. He is scheduled to appear in court at 2:30 p.m. ET in Washington.

He faces two contempt counts: one for his failure to produce documents demanded by the committee and the second for failing to show up for subpoenaed testimony before House investigators.

Prosecutors initially had asked for Navarro's indictment to be under seal Friday, citing the possibility that he could flee or tamper with witnesses or evidence, according to court records.

"Public disclosure risks alerting the Defendant of the Indictment of the before the Government's arrest operation is executed," the filing said. "This would give the Defendant the opportunity to flee, tamper with witnesses or evidence, or take other steps to interfere with the criminal case."

The House had voted in April to refer Navarro to the Justice Department for not complying with the select committee's February subpoena.

Navarro had claimed that he was unable to cooperate because former President Donald Trump had asserted executive privilege in the matter. The committee had countered those arguments by citing that many of the topics it wanted to discuss with him he had already written about in great detail in his book.

Navarro is now the second former Trump adviser to be indicted for criminal contempt of Congress for defying a January 6 committee subpoena. The first referral from the House, for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, was picked up by DOJ and has led to an indictment. He faces a criminal trial this summer. The Justice Department has yet to act on two other Trump allies referred by the House for prosecution: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and ex-White House aide Dan Scavino.

The Justice Department has come under pressure for from House Democrats and others on the left for not acting aggressively enough in its January 6 investigation, particularly as it concerns the role Trump and his inner circle played in seeking to overturn the election and in making the mass voter fraud that propelled the violent assault on the Capitol.

There have been recent indications, however, that the department has ramped up its investigation into a scheme to put forward fraudulent slates of Trump-supporting electors in states that President Joe Biden won.

Focus on non-cooperation

The new charges against Navarro focus narrowly on his lack of compliance with the House's investigation.

The subpoena from the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia specifically requests "all documents relating to the subpoena dated February 9, 2022, that you received from the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including but not limited to any communications with former President Trump and/or his counsel or representatives."

In the indictment, prosecutors cite the repeated rejections Navarro received from the committee of his arguments for not complying with the subpoena.

In a February 27 email quoted by the indictment, the committee told Navarro that the committee believed that there were topics they could discuss "without any raising executive privilege concerns at all."

"In any event, you must appear to assert any executive privilege objections on a question-by-question basis during the deposition," the committee wrote.

When the committee referred Navarro for criminal charges earlier this year, it accused him of making no effort to comply with its subpoena request, claiming that he made it clear that he was unable to cooperate because Trump had asserted executive privilege in the matter.

Select committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson cited the executive privilege argument during Navarro's contempt hearing.

"They potentially played a part in an attack on American democracy, but they can ignore our investigation because they worked for the government at the time. That's their argument," Thompson said at the time, referring to both Navarro and Scavino. "They're not fooling anybody. They are obligated to comply with our investigation. They have refused to do so. And that's a crime."

The committee told Navarro that there were several topic areas it wanted to discuss with him that were not covered under privilege, but Navarro rejected the offer. Navarro also asked the committee if the proceedings would be held in public. He ultimately closed off communication with the committee and referred all questions regarding his cooperation to Trump and his attorneys.

Navarro revealed Monday that he had been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors who were seeking documents related to his decision. Navarro said in an interview with MSNBC Thursday night that he "responded" to the Justice Department, but he declined to say he would be willing to turn over the documents requested by prosecutors.

Threatens retaliation if GOP wins

In the MSNBC interview with Ari Melber, Navarro said he would "lead the charge" to pursue charges against Biden and leading Democrats if Republicans win the White House in 2024.

"You bet your a** that I will lead the charge," Navarro said. "I will take Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin and Nancy Pelosi and Rosa DeLauro -- all of those clowns and kangaroos -- I'll take Biden and every single senior staff member in there--"

"And do what?" Melber interjected.

"Hit them with subpoenas," Navarro declared. "We'll start with the impeachment of Biden for Ukraine, the southern border, all manner of things he is guilty of and we'll subpoena his senior staff."

Melber said he wanted to get on record whether Navarro, if he were to return to a position of authority in a Republican administration, would "use the Department of Justice to subpoena Democrats" he doesn't like.

"I will push as hard as I can to use the same B.S. the Democrats are using now to try to put me in prison for standing up for principle," Navarro said. "If they want to play that game, we'll play it right back. They'll hit us, we hit them back harder. That's not what I want, Ari. Let me be clear. I do not want that."

This story has been updated with additional details.

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