Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser under former President Donald Trump, filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Friday to avoid reporting to prison for his contempt of Congress conviction, The Hill reported.
On Thursday, a federal appeals court denied Navarro's previous attempt to remain out of prison. Navarro, 74, had been ordered to report to a Miami prison this week to begin a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena related to the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol.
"For the first time in our nation's history, a senior presidential advisor has been convicted of contempt of congress after asserting executive privilege over a congressional subpoena," Navarro's attorneys wrote.
"Dr. Navarro has appealed and will raise a number of issues on appeal that he contends are likely to result in the reversal of his conviction, or a new trial. Chief among them are whether an 'affirmative' invocation of executive privilege was required to preclude a prosecution for contempt of congress; what was required of former President Trump for a 'proper' invocation of privilege," the emergency application continued.
The federal appeals court that initially denied Navarro's request did not agree with his claims of executive privileged.
"Even if executive privilege were available to appellant, it would not excuse his complete noncompliance with the subpoena," the appeals court wrote in a two-page order. "Appellant makes no claim of absolute testimonial immunity, nor could he."
The court order further stated: "A properly asserted claim of executive privilege would not have relieved him of the obligation to produce unprivileged documents and appear for his deposition to testify on unprivileged matter."
Navarro and his attorneys had argued that Trump invoked the legal doctrine of executive privilege, which would have protected some presidential documents from being exposed. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw Navarro's trial, ruled that Trump never formally invoked the privilege.
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