WASHINGTON — Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt and asked a federal judge to hold off on his trial so he could promote his book.
Navarro, who appeared Friday in federal court in Washington, entered the plea to both counts the U.S. Justice Department brought against him — for declining to testify in the U.S. House committee investigation of the January 2021 Capitol riot and for refusing to hand over documents in response to a subpoena from the panel.
Navarro, 72, is among a small group of advisers that Donald Trump turned to as he pushed false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The contempt case against him comes amid the committee’s televised hearings into the insurrection and the events preceding it, including plans by Trump’s inner circle to prevent the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
In February, the panel sought documents from Navarro based on information that he and others developed a plan to delay the certification. It cited an excerpt from a Navarro book in which he called the strategy the “Green Bay Sweep” and wrote that it was the “last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.”
Meanwhile the Justice Department’s investigation is in an aggressive phase marked by grand jury subpoenas including one focused on efforts to appoint electors in states Trump lost to reverse the result.
At Friday’s court hearing, Navarro’s attorney, John Irving, asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to hold off on setting a trial date. He said Navarro had just retained legal counsel and also needed time to promote a forthcoming book. Amazon lists a book by Navarro due out in September, titled “Taking Back Trump’s America: Why We Lost the White House and How We’ll Win It Back.”
“It is important to him for his livelihood,” Irving said, adding that the duties of promoting the book would “distract him” from helping his lawyers on the case.
The judge noted a trial coming up of members of the right-wing Oath Keepers and the need to schedule Navarro’s trial along with others, and tentatively set it for Nov. 17.
Among the cases well along in the courts, the Justice Department’s biggest tests will come with the trial of Proud Boys members accused of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and the trial of the Oath Keepers on charges of seditious conspiracy.
Government prosecutors have gone after others in Trump’s inner circle who have declined to cooperate. This week a federal judge rejected arguments raised by longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon that his own indictment for contempt should be thrown out.
Navarro has said he shouldn’t have been held in contempt because he might have a right, or even a duty, to withhold information based on a claim of executive privilege, which shields most communications with a president.
In a Thursday filing, he sought the dismissal of his own lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the committee, in which he alleged that the subpoena he received was unlawful. He has made similar points to those raised by Bannon, including that the committee was improperly assembled.
In court, Navarro’s lawyer explained that his client wanted to drop the case because the deadline to file an amended complaint was Friday and he didn’t want to rush it.
The case is US v. Navarro, 22-cr-00200, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
