Peter Navarro, director of the National Trade Council, right, listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with executives of supply chain distributors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Sunday, March 29, 2020. Trump said his administration expects the peak of deaths in the U.S. coronavirus outbreak to be reached in about two weeks, and that he would extend current social distancing guidelines for Americans until April 30. Photographer: Pete Marovich/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former Trump economic aide Peter Navarro was indicted for contempt of Congress by a federal judge on Friday after he failed to comply with the House select committee investigating last year’s January 6 Capitol attack. The FBI handcuffed and shackled his legs at the airport as he attempted to board a flight.
Earlier this week, Navarro reported he was served with a subpoena, ordering him to appear before a federal grand jury and hand over communications records regarding the January 6, 2021, Capitol Riot.
“On May 26, 2022, two FBI special agents banged loudly on my door in the early morning hours to present me with a fruit of the poisonous tree Grand Jury Subpoena commanding me to comply with the original … illegal and unenforceable subpoena issued to me by the Committee dated February 9, 2022,” Navarro wrote in the draft copy, which was posted online.
In the draft, Navarro made it clear that his lawsuit was going up against more than the two subpoenas. It is also an effort to have “The Supreme Court address a number of issues that have come with the weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers” in the time of and since the Trump administration.
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The 88-page draft lawsuit said that the new subpoena was in connection to his failure to comply with the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack’s subpoena which was issued in February. Navarro claimed executive privilege as the reason he wouldn’t comply. He said he would be happy to appear before the committee if Trump waived his executive privilege. The House also voted to request the Justice Department charge Navarro with contempt of Congress in April. They have yet to do so, and it is unclear if they will or not.
The subpoena marks the Justice Department’s most declarative step toward widening their probe of the Trump administration’s connection with January 6. It called on Navarro to testify on Thursday, which Navarro is reportedly still undecided about.
Navarro’s lawsuit lists the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Matthew Graves, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and members of the select committee as defendants.
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