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Peter Navarro must report to federal prison after Chief Justice John Roberts rejects bid to delay sentence
Washington — Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday rejected an attempt by former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro to stay out of prison as he pursues an appeal of his conviction for contempt of Congress, clearing the way for him to begin serving a four-month sentence in Florida on Tuesday.
Navarro was charged and found guilty after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Congressional investigators were seeking documents and testimony from the former White House official tied to his post 2020-election conduct and efforts to delay the certification of Electoral College votes.
He was sentenced to four months in prison in January. He appealed both his conviction and the trial judge’s decision to impose his sentence as the appeal is further litigated. Navarro has long held that he thought he was bound by executive privilege when he refused to comply with the committee’s demands, but the judge overseeing his case ruled there was no evidence that the privilege was actually invoked.
Navarro has been ordered to turn himself into federal prison in Miami by Tuesday.
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals already rejected his bid to delay the sentence, writing he was unlikely to secure a new trial or reverse his conviction.
In urging the Supreme Court to grant him emergency relief and put a hold on his surrender, Navarro’s lawyers argued that he is neither a flight risk nor a threat to public safety, and therefore should be allowed to remain free while he pursues his appeal.
“Dr. Navarro is the only former senior presidential advisor to be prosecuted for contempt of Congress following an assertion of executive privilege by the president that advisor served,” his attorneys wrote in their request to the court.
They told the justices that Navarro’s prosecution for contempt of Congress violated the separation of powers doctrine, so his conviction must be reversed and the indictment against him dismissed.
His legal team also argued that the questions Navarro plans to raise on appeal, which involve the assertion of executive privilege, are ones that have not been answered before, and therefore warrant his release for now.
“Dr. Navarro does not dispute that his failure to comply with the congressional subpoena at issue was deliberate. Rather, he contests that any such prosecution was consistent with the separation of powers doctrine,” they said. “Not once before Dr. Navarro’s prosecution has the Department of Justice concluded a senior presidential advisor may be prosecuted for contempt of Congress following an assertion of executive privilege.”
The Justice Department opposed Navarro’s bid for release, and argued that he fell short of meeting the standard for such relief.
Roberts wrote in his order that he saw “no basis to disagree with the determination that Navarro forfeited those arguments in the release proceeding, which is distinct from his pending appeal on the merits.” He acted alone as the justice who oversees requests from emergency relief arising from the District of Columbia Circuit.
Much of the records the Jan. 6 select committee was seeking were personal communications that couldn’t implicate executive privilege, the Biden administration said, and Navarro is not contesting the district court’s finding that Trump did not actually assert the privilege.
“If privilege was never asserted, it cannot be a defense to the prosecution here,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who represents the federal government before the Supreme Court.
Prelogar noted that presidents often decline to assert executive privilege in response to congressional subpoenas, and said the president’s superiority in that process would be “gravely undermined” if a subordinate — Navarro in this case — could override that determination.
Navarro’s “suggestion that he was ‘duty-bound’ to claim executive privilege notwithstanding former President Trump’s failure to assert it thus gets things exactly backward,” she wrote.
Navarro was not the first Trump administration official to be convicted of defying Jan. 6 Committee demands, but he will be the first to report to prison. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison, but the judge overseeing his case paused the prison term as Bannon pursues an appeal of his own.
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Kamala Harris will speak with “60 Minutes” tomorrow. Here’s what to know for the interview.
Voters will get the chance to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday as she presents her case for why she should be president in a “60 Minutes” election special.
For decades, “60 Minutes” has featured both Republican and Democratic nominees for presidents, but this year, former President Donald Trump backed out after previously indicating he would be on the show. Correspondent Scott Pelley, who’d been set to interview Trump, will instead travel to Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters and a critical battleground in a key swing state.
One thing is certain about the election; with the U.S. deeply involved in both the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, whoever wins on Nov. 5 will become a wartime president.
What Harris will discuss
Israel’s war started one year ago after Hamas launched a surprise terror attack and correspondent Bill Whitaker will discuss the ongoing war with Harris.
Harris will also discuss the economy, immigration, her record as vice president and the differences between herself and Trump.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz will also appear.
Whitaker joined the Democratic ticket on the campaign trail this week to gain insight into their platform’s priorities and values, and what the candidates believe voters should know.
Why Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview
Leading up to the candidate hour, Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first candidate to accept the “60 Minutes” request to be interviewed for the special, according to CBS News. It had been agreed that both candidates would receive equal time during the broadcast.
Trump last sat down with 60 Minutes in 2020. He walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 “60 Minutes” election special.
“Well, right now, I went to – they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia. It was from Hunter, and I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes.’ I do everything.”
The Republican nominee for president emphasized that he felt he was owed an apology from “60 Minutes.”
“Let’s see if they do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60,” Trump continued. “I’ve done ’60 Minutes’ a lot.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said that Trump’s team had not agreed to an interview.
“Fake News,” Cheung said in a post on X. “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.”
Previous Trump, Harris appearances on 60 Minutes
Trump previously sat down with “60 Minutes'” Mike Wallace in 1985, Pelley in 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, first in July of that year and then again in November of 2016. He also spoke with Stahl again in 2018 and 2020.
Harris previously sat down with Whitaker last year. She also was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent, in 2020.
How to watch the “60 Minutes” election special
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Kamala Harris discusses U.S. relationship with Israel
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