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Federal prosecutors said the Justice Department was “very keen” to hold a trial soon.
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The DOJ hoped to start the trial while the House’s Jan. 6 committee is still in existence.
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The trial will begin in a new congressional term poised for Republican control of the House.
A federal judge on Thursday postponed the trial of former Trump adviser Peter Navarro on contempt of Congress charges, delaying a high-profile proceeding from next week to early January.
Judge Amit Mehta said at a recent hearing that he hoped to begin jury selection, which was scheduled for November 16, but another decision now unfolding before him. In light of high-profile lawsuits, we have determined that a delay is necessary. Founder of Keepers, he is Stewart Rhodes and his four other members of far-right groups.
Mehta has set jury selection in the Navarro case to begin on January 11th. This means the trial will begin after House Republicans are likely to regain a majority and are expected to dissolve the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. To do.
A grand jury indicted Navarro in contempt of Congress in June, stemming from his defiance of the House Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. did. With a November start date, Navarro’s trial comes after the Justice Department won a conviction against Trump ally Steve Bannon in another contempt case related to a Jan. 6 House committee. It was scheduled to roll out just a few months later.
Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months in prison, but allowed him to remain free while he appealed his conviction for contempt of Congress.
Like Bannon, Navarro was referred to the Justice Department for indictment after a Jan. 6 committee, after which the entire House voted to despise him.
Mehta on Thursday delayed Navarro’s trial by two months, though the Justice Department had hoped to carry out the proceedings while the House Jan. 6 committee is still in existence. Federal Prosecutor Raymond Halser said the Justice Department is “extremely willing” to leave the Jan. 6 House panel alone and present evidence against Navarro.
Halther said US Attorney Matt Graves in Washington, D.C. “plays a unique role when it comes to contempt of Congress, and he takes it very seriously.”
Prosecutors have suggested that the Justice Department hopes the trial will pressure Navarro to cooperate.
“As we all know, the trial in question makes things very sharp,” Halser said.
“If the pressing nature of a criminal trial could convince someone to say, ‘Okay, I’ll go and answer the questions and file the papers,’ we want to be the catalyst,” he added. “That doesn’t mean that criminal contempt cases will go away.”
However, Mehta insisted on a postponement.
“I have a personal view of using the trial date to force Mr. Navarro to do something he has so far refused,” Mehta said. “I don’t want these proceedings to be as leveraged as suggested by US lawyers.”
To dismiss the criminal charges, Navarro’s attorneys suggested that Navarro was following direct instructions from Trump refusing to cooperate with the House January Committee’s investigation. But Mehta was outraged by the lack of evidence proving that Trump personally urged him to exercise presidential privilege rather than testify before a House panel.
“You’re giving me nothing,” Mehta said at a recent hearing, adding that he was struck by the idea that “the court is supposed to read the tea leaves when it comes to exercising presidential privilege.”
“I am perplexed by it,” he added.
At one point, Navarro’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, mentioned the possibility of calling Trump as a witness.
“I don’t want to do that,” said Woodward.
“Then what shall we do?” Meta replied.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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