Peter Navarro ordered to report to prison by March 19

“Dr. Navarro has now been ordered to report to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, FCI Miami, on or before 2:00PM EDT on March 19, 2024,” Navarro’s attorneys said in a court filing, referring to a low-security prison in Florida.

Navarro was sentenced earlier this year to four months in prison after being convicted of two contempt of Congress counts. He’s been trying to avoid reporting to prison while his appeal of the conviction plays out, but his efforts have so far failed.

US District Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered him last month to report to prison after denying his bid to stay free, and the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, is now considering a similar request. Navarro is arguing that Mehta’s decision to not let him raise an executive privilege defense at trial was wrong and that the possibility that the DC Circuit Court of Appeals might reverse that decision should keep him out of prison as the court weighs his case.

“Dr. Navarro’s challenge to the district court’s determinations with respect to executive privilege and/or precluding Dr. Navarro from asserting executive privilege as a defense at trial are complicated issues rife with ‘close questions’ or questions, ‘that very well could be decided the other way,’” his attorneys wrote in the filing.

The Justice Department told the appeals court last week that it should also reject Navarro’s request, saying Navarro was raising “meritless arguments” that were not likely to ultimately change the outcome of his criminal case.

Navarro was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress in September for not complying with a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

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