A federal judge has denied former presidential adviser Peter Navarro's motion to dismiss the criminal contempt case related to failing to comply with the House Jan. 6 select committee's subpoena.
Navarro, an adviser to then-President Donald Trump, claimed Trump had invoked executive privilege, allowing Navarro not to cooperate or testify before the panel.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Navarro failed to prove that assertion.
"Defendant's testimonial immunity defense rests on an unsupported factual premise: that President Trump invoked executive privilege with regard to the Select Committee's subpoena," Mehta wrote in his memorandum opinion and order.
"Defendant has failed to come forward with any evidence to support the claimed assertion of privilege. And, because the claimed assertion of executive privilege is unproven, Defendant cannot avoid prosecution for contempt."
Mehta added, "The court has found no case that speaks to the manner in which a President must invoke."
The judge wrote that the absence of evidence is notable for two reasons. First, Trump "gave clear, written instructions to two other senior advisors who received subpoenas from the Select Committee, but not to Defendant."
Second, "There is record evidence that Trump directed Defendant to invoke executive privilege, but it relates to an entirely different subpoena."
Mehta also refused Navarro's claim that the prosecution "violated his right to due process of law."
Navarro in June pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress after he refused to provide testimony or documents to the Jan. 6 select committee, which consisted of seven Democrats and two Republicans.
The select committee finished its work when the last Congress ended.
In July, Navarro declined an offer by the government to plead guilty to a contempt of Congress charge.
Lawfare Senior Editor Roger Parloff said Judge Mehta denied Navarro's motion to dismiss.
"While on break, here's some news: Peter Navarro's motion to dismiss his criminal contempt case was just denied by Judge Mehta. Mehta finds that Navarro has come forward with no evidence Trump ever invoked the privileges he asserted," Parloff tweeted with the court filing.
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