A second adviser to former President Donald Trump has been indicted on contempt of Congress charges. Navarro was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday, with the indictment being unsealed on Friday, according to Harper Neidig with The Hill. He's been indicted with two misdemeanor charges for defying subpoenas from the January 6 select committee.
If found guilty, Navarro could face up to a year in jail and fines of $100,000 for each account. It turns out this is hardly the only part of Navarro's legal battles, though.
As Neidig noted:
The former White House aide also revealed this week that he had been served a grand jury subpoena as part of the Justice Department’s own investigation — a sign that federal law enforcement has begun scrutinizing the highest levels of the Trump administration.
That revelation came in a lawsuit Navarro filed on Tuesday against House Democrats challenging the select committee’s subpoena.
In April, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-203 to hold Navarro in contempt of Congress, referring him to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal charges. The January 6 select committee had subpoenaed Navarro in February, though he refused to comply.
Steve Bannon, among the first key figures subpoenaed by the select committee last September, is also facing charges. For his refusal to comply, the House found Bannon in contempt last October with a vote of 229-202. Bannon was indicted by the DOJ last November on two charges. He pled "not guilty" a short time later.
This announcement of Navarro's charges comes as the select committee has subpoenaed fellow members of Congress as well, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ).
Leader McCarthy and Rep. Jordan savaged the select committee in a blistering op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last week, calling it "illegitimate," as I highlighted at the time. McCarthy's attorney doubled down on such a claim in an 11-page letter.
The select committee had given Rep. Jordan a deadline of May 27 to comply and appear for a deposition, but that was extended earlier this week to June 11, as Ashley Oliver with Breitbart tweeted.
— Ashley Oliver (@asholiver) June 1, 2022
Recent tweets from the official account for the select committee also point to an ugly back-and-forth between committee members and defiant Republicans.
The refusal of these Members to cooperate is a continued assault on the rule of law and sets a dangerous new precedent that could hamper the House’s ability to conduct oversight in the future.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 27, 2022
Chairman @BennieGThompson will formally respond to these Members in the days ahead.
The most recent tweet from the select committee notes that a public hearing will take place on Thursday, June 9, at 8:00pm "to provide the American people with a summary of our findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election."
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