(Miami) A former economic adviser to Donald Trump at the White House and close ally of the ex-president, Peter Navarro, presented himself Tuesday in a prison in Miami, in the southeast of the United States, to serve a four-month sentence.
Peter Navarro, 74, was sentenced in January to that term for obstructing Congress’ investigative powers. In February 2022, he refused to attend a summons from the House of Representatives committee which was investigating the events of January 6, 2021 and to provide it with documents.
That day, hundreds of supporters of the outgoing Republican president stormed the Capitol, seat of the US Congress, in an attempt to prevent the certification of the victory of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the 2020 election. .
Another ex-advisor to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, herald of right-wing populism, had already been sentenced for the same facts to four months in prison in 2022, but was left free pending his appeal.
A similar request from Peter Navarro was rejected Monday by the conservative-majority Supreme Court, making his incarceration inevitable.
Before taking himself prisoner, he denounced “the partisan exploitation of the judicial system”, attributing his fate in a statement to the press “to damn Democrats and people who hate Trump”.
“I will proudly enter prison and serve my sentence,” he said, saying he was comforted by the fact that Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for the presidential election in November.
Peter Navarro reaffirmed his desire to challenge his conviction “on appeal, then before the Supreme Court”.
Donald Trump was not directly concerned by the courts for the assault on the Capitol, although the parliamentary commission of inquiry into January 6, 2021 recommended criminal proceedings against him in December 2022, in particular for calling for rebellion. and conspiracy against American institutions.
He was nevertheless indicted in August 2023 by a federal court in Washington and then by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for his allegedly illicit attempts to obtain the reversal of the results of the 2020 election.