April 29 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Monday again denied a bid by Peter Navarro, a former adviser to Donald Trump, to stay his four-month prison sentence while he appeals his contempt-of-Congress conviction.
Navarro’s second attempt for help from the Supreme Court, submitted to Trump-appointed Justice Neal Gorsuch and referred to the full panel, was denied without comment in a list of orders published Monday.
The latest order came six weeks after the high court similarly rejected Navarro’s emergency appeal to remain free during appeal of his conviction.
Navarro, 74, was convicted in September on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify and for refusing to provide documents to the committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
He previously had requested a stay of sentence from two lower courts, each of which rejected his arguments that he was exempt from the committee’s subpoena because Trump had asserted executive privilege in his case.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta — who presided over Navarro’s trial — and a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his request, writing that they found “no evidence” that Trump had exercised any such claims.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts agreed in an opinion issued on March 19, writing, “I see 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.”
Following that decision, Navarro’s attorneys resubmitted the request to Gorsuch under rules allowing parties whose emergency applications are denied by a single justice to try again with another justice.
Navarro, the first former White House official to be imprisoned after being found guilty of contempt of Congress, continues to maintain his actions in defying the congressional probe of the Jan. 6 Capitol assault were justified under his broad interpretation of executive privilege.
“I will walk proudly in there to do my time,” Navarro said before beginning his jail sentence. “I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the [2024 Republican presidential] nominee.”
