Peter Navarro, a former top trade adviser in the Trump administration, was sentenced to four months in prison on Thursday for defying a subpoena issued by the House Jan. 6 committee. “They had a job to do, and you made it harder. It’s really that simple,” U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said. “You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are the circumstances of your own making.” In September, Mr. Navarro was found guilty on two counts for refusing to testify and provide documents to the Jan. 6 committee, which dissolved in late 2022 after Republicans took control of the House. The charges carried a minimum sentence of one month in prison, and federal prosecutors had sought six months, saying Mr. Navarro “chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.” Judge Mehta also ordered him to pay a $9,500 fine. Mr. Navarro was the second ally of former President Trump to be convicted of contempt of Congress, after former adviser Steve Bannon, who was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022. The judge in that case postponed Mr. Bannon’s sentence while he appeals. A three-judge panel heard his appeal in November, and a decision has not yet been reached. The Jan. 6 committee had sought information from Mr. Navarro about his work to discredit the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and alleged involvement in efforts to block or delay Congress’s certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory. Mr. Navarro argued that his conversations with Mr. Trump were shielded by executive privilege, but the House countered that it was seeking information unrelated to his official duties and that he had an obligation to appear for a deposition and assert claims of privilege to each question they asked. Instead, Mr. Navarro refused to appear, and the House voted 220–203, nearly along party lines, in April 2022 to refer a contempt of Congress citation to the Justice Department, which indicted him that June. Mr. Navarro on Thursday quickly appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. #peternavarro #contempt #jan6 #january6th #cspan