MIAMI (AP) 鈥 Former White House adviser Peter Navarro reported to prison Tuesday for a contempt of Congress conviction, becoming the first senior Trump administration official to be locked up for a crime related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison for defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House committee that investigated the riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Navarro was defiant in remarks to reporters before he headed to the federal prison in Miami, calling his conviction the 鈥減artisan weaponization of the judicial system.鈥
He has maintained that he couldn鈥檛 cooperate with the because Trump had invoked executive privilege. But courts have rejected that argument, finding Navarro couldn鈥檛 prove Trump had actually invoked it.
鈥淲hen I walk in that prison today, the justice system 鈥 such as it is 鈥 will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege,鈥 Navarro told reporters Tuesday.
After voting in Florida on Tuesday, Trump was asked about Navarro.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a good man. He was treated very unfairly,鈥 Trump said, calling him a 鈥済reat patriot鈥 and praising his job negotiating trade with China. 鈥淭he Biden administration treated him very, very badly. It鈥檚 a shame, but that鈥檚 the way it is.鈥
Navarro, who served as a White House trade adviser under Trump, was subpoenaed by the committee over his promotion of false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election in the run-up to the Capitol attack.
Navarro had asked to stay free while he appealed his conviction to give the courts time to consider his challenge. But Washington's federal appeals court to stave off his sentence, finding his appeal wasn鈥檛 likely to reverse his conviction.
And Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts , saying in a written order that he has 鈥渘o basis to disagree鈥 with the appeals court. Roberts said his finding doesn鈥檛 affect the eventual outcome of Navarro鈥檚 appeal.
Navarro was the second Trump aide convicted of . Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received but a different judge allowed him to stay free pending appeal.
The House committee spent 18 months investigating the insurrection, interviewing over 1,000 witnesses, holding 10 hearings and obtaining more than 1 million pages of documents. , the panel ultimately concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a 鈥渕ulti-part conspiracy鈥 to overturn the election results and failed to act to stop his supporters from storming the Capitol.
Special counsel Jack Smith has with conspiring to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden. That case is on hold while the Supreme Court weighs Trump's claim that . The high court is scheduled to hear arguments on the matter next month.
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Richer reported from Boston.
