section_path: Post-administration (2021–2025)/Arrests/Contempt of Congress conviction and prison stay
section_name: Contempt of Congress conviction and prison stay
paragraph_text: Contempt of Congress conviction and prison stay
  
  On February 9, 2022, the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack subpoenaed Navarro to provide documents and testimony. He refused to do so and ignored both subpoenas. He made media appearances to defend this behavior in the press. He claimed that Trump was asserting executive privilege on his behalf, so he was exempt from the subpoenas – although, in fact, the president in office, Joe Biden, had possessed sole discretion to assert executive privilege since the end of the Trump administration, and had not done so on Navarro's behalf. Moreover, despite Navarro's claims in the news media, he did not identify any supporting evidence that Trump had even attempted to assert the privilege on his behalf. Ultimately, Navarro ignored all requirements of both subpoenas without effectively asserting any legally cognizable privilege or exemption. On April 6, 2022, the House of Representatives voted to hold Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt for their refusals to testify before the House Select Committee based on executive privilege claims. In May 2022, Navarro said he had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury and ordered to surrender any documents he had related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro unsuccessfully sought to block both the House committee's subpoena and the grand jury subpoena.
  
  On June 2, 2022, a grand jury impaneled in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia indicted Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress. Count 1 of the indictment alleged Navarro refused to comply with a subpoena to produce documents; Count 2 alleged refusal to comply with a subpoena for testimony. Under the applicable law (2 U.S.C. § 192) each count is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year imprisonment. Navarro was arrested by deputy U.S. marshals at Reagan National Airport as he was about to board a plane to Nashville. U.S. district judge Amit Mehta on July 15, 2022, signaled that he agreed that the treatment of Navarro at the outset of the criminal case was "unreasonably harsh," noting that the government did not offer self-surrender to Navarro.
  
  Navarro claimed that Trump had privately asked him to invoke " executive privilege " over the documents sought by the congressional subpoena. In January 2023, Judge Mehta denied Navarro's effort to dismiss the charges against him, writing, "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 noted that Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino (two other Trump advisors whom the House committee had also sought to prosecute for contempt) had produced letters from Trump, in which he directed them to assert executive privilege on his behalf. DOJ chose not to prosecute Meadows and Scavino, and Mehta cited Navarro's failure to produce any similar letter from Trump. Mehta also rejected Navarro's bid to argue that the congressional subpoena was procedurally invalid. In a pretrial hearing in August 2023, Navarro claimed that Trump had told him in a February 2022 phone call not to testify to the House committee but failed to produce any evidence of what Trump actually said in the conversation. Trump had already said he would not testify at Navarro's trial. Two days later, Judge Mehta ruled that Navarro could not claim an "executive privilege" not to testify before the House committee. After the ruling against him, Navarro tried – and failed – to grab a demonstrator's "Trump lost" sign from her at a press conference outside the courthouse.
  
  On September 5, 2023, a jury was seated. Three former congressional committee staffers testified as prosecution witnesses; Navarro declined to testify in his own defense or to offer any witnesses for the defense. Navarro's criminal defense lawyer was Stanley Woodward Jr. Navarro told reporters that he expected to face legal bills of $750,000. He later said that Trump helped pay $300,000 and while he raised more in an appeal on a website. After a two-day trial, Navarro was convicted on both counts of contempt of Congress; the jury rejected Navarro's argument that he had not willfully refused to comply with the subpoena. Navarro was the second ex-Trump aide to be convicted of contempt of Congress; Bannon had been convicted of the same offense the preceding year. On January 16, 2024, a federal judge denied Navarro's request for a new trial.
  
  Navarro filed an appeal. Judge Mehta and the appeals court denied his request to stay out of prison during the appeal. On September 7, 2023, Navarro was convicted on both counts and on January 25, 2024, he was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $9,500, becoming the first former White House official ever imprisoned on contempt of Congress conviction. He was ordered to report to a minimum-security federal prison in Miami, Florida by March 19, 2024. Navarro appealed to the Supreme Court to stay the order, but Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the appeal on March 18 in a single-paragraph in-chambers opinion. Navarro spent March 19 – July 17 incarcerated in the elderly prisoner unit of a U.S. Federal penitentiary. While in prison, he asked to spend the final 30 days of his sentence on supervised release, but Mehta denied his request. During Navarro's prison stay, he was visited by Trump's son Donald Jr., according to his prison consultant Sam Mangel.
  
  Navarro was released on July 17, 2024. Within hours of being released from prison, Navarro gave a prime time speech endorsing Trump for a second term at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the convention, Navarro said "The J6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused." In 2025, interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin demoted Elizabeth Aloi and John Crabb Jr., who worked as prosecutors in Navarro's case, to low-level positions. Navarro stated that he is not seeking a pardon from President Trump.
  
  On February 9, 2022, the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack subpoenaed Navarro to provide documents and testimony. He refused to do so and ignored both subpoenas. He made media appearances to defend this behavior in the press. He claimed that Trump was asserting executive privilege on his behalf, so he was exempt from the subpoenas – although, in fact, the president in office, Joe Biden, had possessed sole discretion to assert executive privilege since the end of the Trump administration, and had not done so on Navarro's behalf. Moreover, despite Navarro's claims in the news media, he did not identify any supporting evidence that Trump had even attempted to assert the privilege on his behalf. Ultimately, Navarro ignored all requirements of both subpoenas without effectively asserting any legally cognizable privilege or exemption. On April 6, 2022, the House of Representatives voted to hold Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt for their refusals to testify before the House Select Committee based on executive privilege claims. In May 2022, Navarro said he had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury and ordered to surrender any documents he had related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro unsuccessfully sought to block both the House committee's subpoena and the grand jury subpoena.
  
  On June 2, 2022, a grand jury impaneled in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia indicted Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress. Count 1 of the indictment alleged Navarro refused to comply with a subpoena to produce documents; Count 2 alleged refusal to comply with a subpoena for testimony. Under the applicable law (2 U.S.C. § 192) each count is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year imprisonment. Navarro was arrested by deputy U.S. marshals at Reagan National Airport as he was about to board a plane to Nashville. U.S. district judge Amit Mehta on July 15, 2022, signaled that he agreed that the treatment of Navarro at the outset of the criminal case was "unreasonably harsh," noting that the government did not offer self-surrender to Navarro.
  
  Navarro claimed that Trump had privately asked him to invoke " executive privilege " over the documents sought by the congressional subpoena. In January 2023, Judge Mehta denied Navarro's effort to dismiss the charges against him, writing, "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 noted that Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino (two other Trump advisors whom the House committee had also sought to prosecute for contempt) had produced letters from Trump, in which he directed them to assert executive privilege on his behalf. DOJ chose not to prosecute Meadows and Scavino, and Mehta cited Navarro's failure to produce any similar letter from Trump. Mehta also rejected Navarro's bid to argue that the congressional subpoena was procedurally invalid. In a pretrial hearing in August 2023, Navarro claimed that Trump had told him in a February 2022 phone call not to testify to the House committee but failed to produce any evidence of what Trump actually said in the conversation. Trump had already said he would not testify at Navarro's trial. Two days later, Judge Mehta ruled that Navarro could not claim an "executive privilege" not to testify before the House committee. After the ruling against him, Navarro tried – and failed – to grab a demonstrator's "Trump lost" sign from her at a press conference outside the courthouse.
  
  On September 5, 2023, a jury was seated. Three former congressional committee staffers testified as prosecution witnesses; Navarro declined to testify in his own defense or to offer any witnesses for the defense. Navarro's criminal defense lawyer was Stanley Woodward Jr. Navarro told reporters that he expected to face legal bills of $750,000. He later said that Trump helped pay $300,000 and while he raised more in an appeal on a website. After a two-day trial, Navarro was convicted on both counts of contempt of Congress; the jury rejected Navarro's argument that he had not willfully refused to comply with the subpoena. Navarro was the second ex-Trump aide to be convicted of contempt of Congress; Bannon had been convicted of the same offense the preceding year. On January 16, 2024, a federal judge denied Navarro's request for a new trial.
  
  Navarro filed an appeal. Judge Mehta and the appeals court denied his request to stay out of prison during the appeal. On September 7, 2023, Navarro was convicted on both counts and on January 25, 2024, he was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $9,500, becoming the first former White House official ever imprisoned on contempt of Congress conviction. He was ordered to report to a minimum-security federal prison in Miami, Florida by March 19, 2024. Navarro appealed to the Supreme Court to stay the order, but Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the appeal on March 18 in a single-paragraph in-chambers opinion. Navarro spent March 19 – July 17 incarcerated in the elderly prisoner unit of a U.S. Federal penitentiary. While in prison, he asked to spend the final 30 days of his sentence on supervised release, but Mehta denied his request. During Navarro's prison stay, he was visited by Trump's son Donald Jr., according to his prison consultant Sam Mangel.
  
  Navarro was released on July 17, 2024. Within hours of being released from prison, Navarro gave a prime time speech endorsing Trump for a second term at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the convention, Navarro said "The J6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused." In 2025, interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin demoted Elizabeth Aloi and John Crabb Jr., who worked as prosecutors in Navarro's case, to low-level positions. Navarro stated that he is not seeking a pardon from President Trump.