Peter Navarro, the architect of then-President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, has become the first former White House aide to be imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with US lawmakers.
The 74-year-old economist, who served as a senior trade adviser to Trump, reported to federal prison on Tuesday at a minimum-security facility in Florida. Navarro was sentenced in January to four months in prison after being convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to the US House committee that investigated the January 2021 Capitol riot.
The Trump ally has claimed that he could not provide testimony because his interactions with the then-president were covered by executive privilege – the chief executive’s authority to withhold information from the government’s legislative and judicial branches. “When I walk in that prison today, the justice system, such as it is, will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Navarro has vowed to continue appealing his conviction, warning that his case could be a dangerous precedent. “If I fail in that appeal – after nonetheless serving my full prison term – the constitutional separation of powers will be irreparably damaged and the doctrine of executive privilege dating back to George Washington will cease to function as an important safeguard for effective presidential decision-making,” he said.
One of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., said Navarro was persecuted for standing up to “the corrupt January 6 committee.” He added, “Peter is a patriot, while the left’s lawfare is as destructive as it’s ever been.”
Navarro likened his case to the four pending criminal indictments against Trump and argued that “weaponization” of the justice system by US President Joe Biden’s administration makes him afraid for America’s future. “If they can put me in prison, they can put you in prison,” he told reporters before reporting to his jailers in Miami. “Make no mistake about that, and make no mistake about this: They’re coming after Donald Trump with the same tactics, tools and strategies they used to put me over there today.”
Another former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, also was sentenced to four months in prison for defying the January 6 committee. His sentence is still under appeal.