Ultimately, all that prosecutors had to prove was that he deliberately chose not to testify before the committee or hand over the documents the committee demanded. Navarro and his attorneys appeared resigned to having few defenses — they presented no witnesses and only briefly cross-examined one prosecution witness — and instead are pinning their hopes on an appeal that might invalidate some of the longstanding limits on arguments for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
The committee repeatedly told Navarro it anticipated his cooperation and that, even if Trump had, in fact, claimed executive privilege, he was still required to appear and assert the privilege on a question-by-question basis. And Trump’s purported privilege invocation did not absolve Navarro from having to produce documents, they added, or at least submit a log of records he claimed were off-limits to the committee.
After Navarro refused the panel’s demands, the House held him in contempt of Congress, forwarding the case to the Justice Department, which. Those charges came seven months after a close Trump ally, Steve Bannon, was similarly charged for defying the Jan. 6 select committee. Bannon was convicted in July 2022 and is fighting the matter on appeal.
He said prosecutors presented no evidence about where Navarro actually was when he declined to appear before the committee, suggesting that the Justice Department failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Navarro’s decision to blow off the committee was deliberate.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: MSNBC - 🏆 469. / 51 Read more »
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »
Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »
Source: ABC - 🏆 471. / 51 Read more »
Source: KIRO7Seattle - 🏆 271. / 63 Read more »