DOJ seeks 6-month sentence for former Trump aide Peter Navarro

Prosecutors say Peter Navarro — a former trade adviser to Donald Trump — should go to jail for six months and pay a $200,000 fine for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 select committee.

“The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law,” argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi in a 20-page sentencing memo submitted Thursday night.

Navarro, who will be sentenced by a federal judge next week after being convicted in September on two misdemeanor contempt of Congress charges, “thumbed his nose at Congressional authority” and would likely do so again to serve the “political interests of his allies and patrons,” Aloi argued.

The prosecutor said Navarro summarily refused to aid the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation into the causes of the violent assault at the Capitol — including efforts by Trump to subvert the 2020 election and derail the transfer of power. Navarro worked with allies in Congress on a strategy to help slow Congress’ counting of electoral votes via a strategy that he and fellow Trump ally Steve Bannon dubbed “The Green Bay Sweep.”