A new conviction in the investigation into the assault on Congress. A former economic advisor and close ally of former US President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, was found guilty on Thursday September 7 of obstructing the investigative powers of Congress which had summoned him to hear about the assault from the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Another former adviser to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, a herald of right-wing populism, had already been sentenced for the same offenses to four months in prison in 2022 but appealed. Judge Amit Mehta set a sentencing date for Peter Navarro for January 12, 2024.
Peter Navarro was found guilty on counts of refusing in 2022 to attend a summons from the House of Representatives committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021 and to provide it with documents.
That day, hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, seat of the US Congress, in an attempt to prevent the certification of the victory of his opponent Joe Biden. As soon as he left the court, Peter Navarro announced his intention to appeal arguing that a “senior White House advisor could not be forced to testify before Congress”, under penalty of violating the executive “separation of powers” and legislative.
He faces between 30 days and one year in prison, as well as a fine of up to $100,000 on each of the two counts. The commission of inquiry into January 6, 2021, recommended in its report published in December 2022, after 18 months of work, criminal proceedings against Donald Trump, in particular for calling for rebellion and plotting against American institutions.
The former Republican president was indicted in August by a federal court in Washington and then by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for his allegedly illicit attempts to obtain the reversal of the results of the election of 2020.