Peter Navarro, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, thumbed his nose at Congress, prosecutors told a jury at the outset of a trial Wednesday over charges that Navarro ignored a subpoena from the House select panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Prosecutors argued Navarro ignored his legal responsibility to provide testimony and documents to the select committee. Numerous legal issues, particularly the role of Navarro’s assertions that executive privilege prevented him from testifying, lurked in the background of the presentation to the jury.
District Judge Amit P. Mehta is overseeing the rare trial on two contempt of Congress charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The defense didn’t call any witnesses and both sides rested their cases Wednesday. The parties planned to present closing arguments and the judge is expected to send the case to the jury Thursday.
