A former economic advisor and close ally of Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, was sentenced Thursday, January 25, to four months in prison for obstructing the investigative powers of Congress, which had summoned him to hear about the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Also fined, Peter Navarro announced his intention to appeal. He was convicted in September of charges of refusing, in February 2022, to attend a summons from the House of Representatives committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021 and to provide documents to it.
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 Democratic opponent Joe Biden. Another former adviser to the former American president, Steve Bannon, a herald of right-wing populism, has already been sentenced for the same offenses to four months in prison in 2022. He has also appealed.
“Absolute immunity” for Trump?
Donald Trump was not directly concerned by the courts for these events, although the commission of inquiry into January 6, 2021 recommended criminal proceedings against him in December 2022, in particular for calling for rebellion and plotting against the American institutions. The Republican, candidate for candidacy for the next presidential election, was nevertheless indicted in August 2023 by a federal court in Washington then by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for his attempts to obtain the reversal results of the 2020 election.
The ex-president claims “absolute immunity” for his actions while at the White House, but the judge at his federal trial in Washington, Tanya Chutkan, in December rejected his request to dismiss the charges on this ground . A federal appeals court in Washington is expected to rule on the matter in the coming days after hearing arguments from the defense and prosecution on January 9.