A federal grand jury has indicted Peter Navarro (pictured), a senior White House adviser to Donald Trump, for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Capitol Attack in January 2021.
But the Justice Department has declined to charge former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House social media director Dan Scavino over their failure to cooperate.
The indictment of Navarro is the first of a White House official over the plotting before the attack and Trump’s instigation of it, seeking to block the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden.
Navarro was charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after his failure to appear for a deposition or to provide documents, in response to a committee subpoena on February 9. Each carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
The Justice Department’s decision not to take similar steps against Meadows or Scavino was confirmed by “people familiar with the prosecutors’ decision” and a letter to the top counsel of the House of Representatives.
Matthew Graves, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote Douglas Letter, the general counsel of the House:
Based on the individual facts and circumstances of their alleged contempt, my office will not be initiating prosecutions for criminal contempt as requested in the referral against Messrs. Meadows and Scavino.
My office’s review of each of the contempt referrals arising from the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation is complete.
The difference in the outcomes appears to turn on exchanges with the House select committee before each man decided against further cooperation.
Navarro and Steve Bannon, the former Trump chief strategist who is also charged with contempt of Congress, never entered into negotiations with the committee.
Meadows and Scavino, both also involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, engaged in weeks of negotiations, and Meadows initially turned over more than 9,000 documents to the committee.
Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming welcomed Navarro’s indictment but asked the Justice Department for “greater clarity” over Meadows and Scavino.
We find the decision to reward Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino for their continued attack on the rule of law puzzling. Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino unquestionably have relevant knowledge about President Trump’s role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6.
The Plot for A Trump Coup
Navarro was ostensibly a senior White House advisor on economics, but he functioned more as a political operative for Trump. He was involved in “Green Bay Sweep”, the plan for Vice President Mike Pence, Republican members of Congress, and state legislatures to throw out Biden’s victory in swing states, allowing Trump to hold onto the White House.
Navarro wrote a 36-page report claiming an “immaculate deception” for Biden’s electoral triumph, distributing the unsupported claims to GOP legislators. On January 2, he participated in a call with Trump and his lawyers, seeking to persuade hundreds of state lawmakers to join the effort.
On Friday, Navarro appeared in court, telling a federal magistrate judge that the House committee subpoena was “illegal” and “unenforceable” and portraying himself as the victim of a Democrat-run system trying to destroy him and Trump: “There are bigger things at play than whether I go to prison. And that’s why I’m standing here.”
