Peter Navarro used to be most famous for being an advisor to former President Donald Trump.
Now, he's famous for another distinction:
His conviction on contempt of Congress charges.
Navarro was facing the charges because he had refused to cooperate with a House investigation into the Capitol unrest that took place on Jan. 6, 2021.
The verdict came after a very short trial. Navarro is the second aide of Trump's to face contempt of Congress charges. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was the first. He was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress and has been sentenced to four months behind bars.
Bannon isn't behind bars yet, however. He has remained free pending appeal.
Judge Amit Mehta has scheduled Navarro's sentencing for Jan. 12, 2024. Both counts on which Navarro was convicted carry up to a year behind bars, so there is a possibility Navarro is in the clink for more than a brief stay.
Prosecutors said Navarro acted as if he were "above the law" when he defied a subpoena for documents and to appear before the House Jan. 6 Committee.
A defense attorney for Navarro unsuccessfully argued that Navarro didn't purposefully ignore the panel.
Navarro is planning to appeal the ruling and said that his refusal to cooperate with Congress was on the grounds of executive privilege.
So, Navarro's argument is that he WAS above the law. Perhaps that's why liberals are accusing him of acting like he was "above the law."
"This is the first time that a senior presidential aide who has served his president for four years, has ever been held in contempt of Congress," Navarro defense attorney John Rowley said.
"There are legal issues here that need to be decided by the Court of Appeals. Judge made it decided based upon an evidentiary hearing last week, that there was inadequate evidence to show that President Trump had formally instructed Dr. Navarro to invoke executive privilege. Respectfully, we agree with that decision. We think that the evidence established that in fact, President Trump instructed Dr. Navarro to invoke executive privilege." he added.
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