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Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was summoned by the Justice Department as part of an investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the pro-Trump mob.
Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, revealed the summons Tuesday in a lawsuit he filed against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and the House of Representatives’ bipartisan commission investigating the attack.
“On May 26, 2022, two FBI special agents slammed my door in the early hours of the morning to give me the fruit of the poison tree,” a subpoena from a grand jury that ordered me to comply with the original … subpoena. issued to me by the Commission on 9 February 10 2022. Navarro said in the 88-page complaint.
Navarro’s case was arbitrarily assigned to U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, appointed by Obama since 2014, who served at Clinton’s Department of Justice from 1996 to 2001, including as head of the Office of Legal Advisers, which provides legal advice. advice to the executive on these matters. issues such as claims for executive privileges.
On January 6, the commission summoned Navarro in February to seek records and testimony from a former trade adviser who wrote and publicly discussed efforts to develop a strategy to delay or revoke certification for the 2020 elections.
Navarro responded at the time with a statement rejecting the commission’s request and legitimacy, blaming Pelosi, among others, for the violence that took place on January 6, 2021. He said Trump “invoked the privilege of the executive branch.” ; and it is not my privilege to give up. ”
The House of Representatives then voted in April to detain Navarro and former White House chief of communications Daniel Scavino Jr. in contempt of Congress, leading to a criminal referral to the Justice Department, which has the power to charge the two former officials with crimes could result in one year in prison and a fine of up to $ 100,000.
The pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was trying to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory. The attack killed five people and injured about 140 police officers.
Navarro is among several Trump advisers who have been summoned by the elected committee and are seeking to avoid testimony, citing Trump’s claim to executive privilege. The commission also issued summons to five Republicans in the House of Representatives, including minority leader Kevin McCarthy (California).
Two other former high-ranking Trump aides to the White House have filed lawsuits for executive privileges in pending cases before a federal judge in Washington.
Like Navarro, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows filed a lawsuit against the House of Representatives committee on January 6 after receiving a subpoena. Former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon has filed charges of criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to appear before the committee.
Both cases are before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, appointed to Trump in 2019, who served in the George W. Bush Department of Justice from 2005 to 2009, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division.
In a February letter accompanying the original Navarro summons, Representative Benny G. Thompson (D-Miss.), Chairman of the elected committee, quoted news reports that the former Trump trade adviser “works with Steve Bannon and others to develop and implement plan to postpone certification by Congress and eventually change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
The letter also cites Navarro’s recent book, detailing a plan he called the Cleaning of Green Bay, which he described as “the last best chance to get a stolen election out of the jaws of Democrat fraud.” The summons also describes a Navarro report published online that reiterates “many allegations of alleged fraud in elections that have been discredited.”
Navarro said in his case against Pelosi and the commission that he was directed to testify before a grand jury on June 2nd and to present “[a]All documents related to the February 9, 2022 summons “he received from the committee,” including, but not limited to, all communications with official President Trump and / or his adviser or representative. “
“As shown in this summary, the privilege of the executive branch used by President Trump is not mine or Joe Biden’s to relinquish,” Navarro said. “Rather, as with the Committee, the US Attorney has constitutional and due process obligations to negotiate my appearance before [the grand jury] not with me, but rather with President Trump and his lawyers, and I am bound by the privilege of not complying with this summons to a grand jury without these negotiations and guidance from President Trump. “
Jacqueline Alemanni and Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.
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