Peter Navarro Responds to Looming Jail Time

Peter Navarro has said his upcoming imprisonment over his response to the Capitol riot "should chill the bones of every American."

Donald Trump's former aide hit out at the Supreme Court in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, after it denied his request to avoid prison while he appeals a contempt of Congress conviction.

The Context

Navarro, who served as Trump's trade adviser, was convicted in September 2023 for defying a subpoena from the panel that investigated the 2021 Capitol attack in which Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to protest Joe Biden's election win.

The panel requested he turn over records but he argued he did not have to cooperate with Congress because of Trump's executive privilege, which shields some presidential records from disclosure.

He will serve a four-month prison sentence from Tuesday, according to press statements from his lawyers.

Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.

What We Know

Writing on X, Navarro said the judges who denied his release at the Appeals Court were all Democrats.

He added: "The partisan nature of the imprisoning of a top senior White House aide should chill the bones of every American. In Joe Biden's weaponized justice system, a Democrat controlled Congress and Justice Department together with an Obama-appointed District Judge and three Obama-appointed Appeals Court judges drove the Navarro railroad right into prison. If anybody thinks these partisans and politicians in robes aren't coming for Donald Trump, they must think twice now."

In an interview with Donald Trump Jr., he added he hoped his case would be "a landmark constitution case" regarding the separation of powers.

"Men and women of America throughout our history have shed blood, lost their lives for the defense of this country, defense of what we stand for, defense of our values, defense of the constitution," he said.

He added: "For me its a much smaller sacrifice to be willing to go to prison, as I now have been ordered to do, to defend what is really one of the most important principles of the constitution which is the constitution of the separation of powers."

Views

In a statement emailed to Newsweek last week, before the ruling, Navarro reiterated his argument of executive privilege. He said: "United States v. Peter Navarro is a landmark constitutional case that will eventually determine whether the constitutional separation of powers is preserved, whether executive privilege will continue to exist as a bulwark against partisan attacks by the legislative branch, and whether executive privilege will remain, as President George Washington pioneered, a critical instrument of effective presidential decision-making. That's worth fighting for on behalf of all Americans."

What's Next?

Navarro's jail sentence is set to begin Tuesday at 2 p.m. in a Miami federal prison.

Update 03/19/24, 3:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include additional information.