The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol announced on Wednesday it had subpoenaed former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, a key player in then-President Donald Trump's effort to overturn his election defeat.
The House of Representatives committee said it is seeking records and deposition testimony from Navarro who, according to public reporting, interviews and his own book, was involved in efforts to delay Congress' certification of the 2020 election.
"Mr. Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee's investigation into the causes of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol," Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democrat chairman, said in a statement.
"He hasn’t been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former President’s support for those plans," Thompson said.
In response to a request for comment, Navarro said Trump had claimed his communications while in the White House are protected by executive privilege. "President Trump has invoked Executive Privilege; and it is not my privilege to waive," he said in a statement.
Navarro served as White House trade policy adviser under Trump. Navarro has said in media interviews and his book that he helped coordinate an effort - "the Green Bay Sweep" to halt certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the Nov. 3, 2020, election and keep Trump, a Republican, in power.
The committee has so far interviewed more than 500 witnesses, issued more than 60 subpoenas and obtained more than 50,000 pages of records as it probes the causes of the Capitol siege.
The committee is aiming to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall, a source familiar with the investigation said in December.
It asked Navarro to produce documents by Feb. 23 and appear for a deposition on March 2.
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