Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was indicted for defying subpoenas by the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot, giving the panel fresh ammunition as it probes the post-election acts of Donald Trump and his allies.
Navarro “is charged with one contempt count involving his refusal to appear for a deposition and another involving his refusal to produce documents, despite a subpoena from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” the Justice Department said in a statement Friday.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in US District Court in Washington, Navarro asserted that the nine-member House committee is not properly authorized or constituted and therefore that its legislative acts, including the committee subpoena he defied, are invalid. He called the subpoena from the federal grand jury the legal “fruit of the poisonous tree.”
Navarro didn’t immediately return requests for comment on the indictment.
