Ex-Trump Aide Peter Navarro Ordered to Prison for Defying Jan. 6 Probe

Peter Navarro could soon become the first former aide of ex-President Donald Trump to serve time behind bars related to GOP attempts to reverse the 2020 election results, according to a Sunday court filing by the American economist's legal team.

Navarro, who advised the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate on trade, has been ordered to report to a low-security federal prison in Florida on March 19, his legal team told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, last month denied Navarro's request to remain free while appealing his September conviction. A jury found the 74-year-old guilty of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Mehta in January sentenced Navarro to four months in prison and a $9,500 fine. At the time, the judge contested his claims that the prosecution was politically motivated, saying: "You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution."

Referencing Navarro's term for his scheme to overturn Trump's 2020 loss, NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said Monday: "Look who's getting Green Bay-swept into prison. May this represent the beginning of real accountability for the orchestrators, the organizers, the funders, and the inciters of the attack on our democracy."

Navarro's conviction and sentencing came after Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, was convicted in July 2022 and sentenced to four months in prison for ignoring a subpoena from the panel. Bannon remains free during the appeals process.

Politiconoted Monday that "Navarro is also fighting a civil lawsuit brought by the Justice Department demanding he return hundreds of records the government claims he improperly declined to deliver to the National Archives after leaving office. Some of those records pertain to the 2020 election."

Trump faces four ongoing criminal cases—including two related to his 2020 election interference efforts. However, it is not clear whether either will go to trial before the November election, in which he is expected to face Democratic President Joe Biden.