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‘What a disgrace!’ DOJ seeks prison term for former Trump aide Peter Navarro, crickets on Hunter Biden

January 19, 2024 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is looking to put former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro behind bars.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a six-month prison sentence and a $200,000 fine for the trade adviser to former President Trump after he defied a congressional subpoena in 2022 from the now-disbanded House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

That act “deserves severe punishment,” according to the filing on the sentencing of Navarro who was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress and is set to be sentenced on January 25.

“The mandatory minimum sentence of one month in prison is insufficient to account for, punish, and deter the Defendant’s criminal offenses,” the federal prosecutors told US District Judge Amit Mehta. “For each Count, the Court should instead impose a sentence of six months’ imprisonment—the top end of the applicable Guidelines’ advisory sentencing range—and fine the Defendant $100,000.”

“The rioters who overran the Capitol on January 6, 2021, did not just attack a building – they assaulted the rule of law upon which this country was built and through which it endures. By flouting the Committee’s subpoena and its authority to investigate that assault, the Defendant exacerbated that assault, following the attack on Congress with his rejection of its authority,” prosecutors said in the 20-page filing which also declared, “The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”

“Respect for the rule of law is essential to the functioning of the United States government and to preserving the freedom and good order this country has enjoyed for more than two centuries,” they argued. “The Defendant’s bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment.”

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Navarro’s attorneys issued their own memo ahead of sentencing.

“Despite the government’s effort to label Dr. Navarro as an insurrectionist, the reality is that his conviction arises solely from a conviction for his refusal to comply with the Select Committee’s subpoena and has nothing to do with the events that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” the lawyers wrote.

“Navarro’s actions do not stem from a disrespect for the law, nor do they stem from any belief that he is above the law,” they wrote. “Rather, Dr. Navarro acted because he reasonably believed he was duty-bound to assert executive privilege on former President Trump’s behalf.”

“Dr. Navarro’s sentencing should reflect the tenor of the law giving rise to his conviction,” the attorneys told the judge. “Accordingly, Dr. Navarro respectfully requests the Court sentence him to not more than six months of probation for each count, to run concurrently, and to pay a fine of $100 for each count.”

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Complaints on social media about the efforts of Biden’s weaponized DOJ had a common theme.

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Frieda Powers
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