Supreme Court denies former Trump aide Peter Navarro’s final bid to stay out of prison

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro to avoid reporting to prison to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

The court turned away his request in a brief order with no noted dissents.

Navarro had asked the Supreme Court to intervene ahead of his Tuesday arrival at a federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Miami. Navarro was sentenced to four months of incarceration in January following his conviction last year for defying the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a separate statement noting that a lower court had found Navarro had forfeited any request to remain on bail pending his appeal under a law called the Bail Reform Act.

Navarro’s arguments were related to his claim of executive privilege, with his lawyers saying it was “the first time in our nation’s history” that “a senior presidential advisor has been convicted of contempt of Congress after asserting executive privilege over a congressional subpoena.” Roberts noted the court of appeals said that Navarro was “still obligated to appear before Congress and answer questions seeking information outside the scope of the asserted privilege.”

“I see no basis to disagree with the determination that Navarro forfeited those arguments,” the chief justice added.

A federal appeals court rejected his stay request last week, saying Navarro had “not shown that his appeal presents substantial questions of law or fact likely to result in reversal, a new trial, a sentence that does not include a term of imprisonment or a reduced sentence of imprisonment that is less than the amount of time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process.”

Navarro is an election denier who was closely involved in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.

“You are not a victim,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta told Navarro at his sentencing in January. “You are not the object of a political prosecution — you aren’t. You have received every process you are due.”