A federal judge on Thursday denied Trump White House official Peter Navarro’s bid to remain out of prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Navarro was sentenced last month to four months behind bars after being found guilty of defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House January 6 Committee. He had asked to be free while he fights that conviction in higher courts.
But US District Judge Amit Mehta denied that request, saying Navarro must report to serve his sentence on the date ordered by the Bureau of Prisons, unless the federal appeal court steps in to block Mehta’s order.
The judge said Navarro has not shown that any of the issues he will raise on appeal are “substantial” questions of law.
Among other things, Navarro has argued that his prosecution was motivated by political bias, but Mehta said Navarro had offered “no actual proof” to support that claim.
“Defendant’s cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a ‘substantial’ one,” wrote Mehta, who was appointed to the federal court in Washington by former president Barack Obama.
A lawyer for Navarro did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Supreme Court arguments begin in case that could kick Trump off ballot
Supreme Court arguments begin in case that could kick Trump off ballot
Navarro has said he could not cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. The judge barred him from making that argument at trial, however, finding that he did not show Trump had actually invoked it.
Navarro told the judge before receiving his punishment in January that the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack had led him to believe that it accepted his invocation of executive privilege.
The House committee spent 18 months investigating the insurrection, interviewing over 1,000 witnesses, holding 10 hearings and obtaining more than 1 million pages of documents. In its final report, the panel ultimately concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the election results and failed to act to stop his supporters from storming the Capitol.
Trump, the Republican presidential primary front-runner, has been criminally charged by special counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated.