Supreme Court denies Peter Navarro’s long-shot bid to stay out of prison

The Supreme Court on Monday denied a long-shot bid by ex-Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro to stay out of prison while appealing his conviction for evading a congressional subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.

Navarro, 74, was found guilty last year of two counts of contempt of Congress — one for failing to produce documents related to the probe, and another for skipping his deposition before the select panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

The Supreme Court’s denial of Navarro’s request follows his second ask to the nation’s highest court to set him free while he challenges his conviction. 

By default, Navarro’s first emergency request to stay out of prison while appealing the conviction went to Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roberts, who acted on the request alone, said in March that he would not pause Navarro’s four-month prison sentence as his appeal moves forward, forcing the onetime Trump adviser to report to a federal prison in Miami on March 19.

Navarro then renewed his motion to Justice Neil Gorsuch. As the court typically does to avoid repeated efforts, Gorsuch referred the matter to the full court for a vote. Navarro’s request was again denied.

The decision means that Navarro will likely serve his four-month prison term before arguing the appeal of his conviction before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

At trial, Navarro sought to prove to a jury that he was shielded by executive privilege from complying with the House Jan. 6 committee’s requests. But the district judge barred him from using executive privilege as part of his defense after finding that he failed to prove privilege was ever invoked by former President Trump.

Defense attorneys said the decision “hamstrung” their defense, and Navarro told the judge during his sentencing that he had an “honest belief” executive privilege had been invoked.

“This is the partisan weaponization of our judicial system,” Navarro said during a press conference in March, right before reporting to prison, where he railed against the district and appellate judges who oversaw his case as “Democrat from start to finish.”

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was also convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress for not complying with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena and sentenced to four months in prison. But a different judge ruled he could remain free pending appeal.

His case was argued before a federal appeals court in November, but he has not served any time in prison yet.