There’s an astonishing number of people in Donald Trump’s orbit who’ve been convicted of crimes in recent years, to the point that The Washington Post described it as the “remarkable universe of criminality“ surrounding the former president. Today, as my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin reported, the list got a little longer.
Peter Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The former Trump White House adviser was charged after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee. He refused to appear for a deposition and provide documents.
Jordan’s report added that each count of contempt of Congress “carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, and a fine of up to $100,000.”
For those who might need a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
When it comes to the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, there have been some complex dimensions to the probe, but enforcement of subpoenas wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Navarro was a key insider in the Trump White House; he had important information; and he was subpoenaed to cooperate with the bipartisan investigation.
Navarro refused to comply.
With this in mind, congressional leaders — who didn’t want their subpoenas to be seen as optional invitations — voted last year to hold Navarro in contempt and referred the matter to the Justice Department. Two months later, he was charged.
Today, after a jury deliberated for about four hours, Navarro was convicted. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in January.
As for the broader “culture of lawlessness“ that’s surrounded Trump in recent years, this list might be familiar to regular readers:
Navarro, in other words, has plenty of company. To be sure, some of the aforementioned men were ultimately pardoned by Trump, who doled out pardons as if they were party favors before exiting the Oval Office, but this doesn’t change the scope of the broader picture. What’s more, it’s important to emphasize that Trump himself is also facing four criminal indictments across three jurisdictions, his “law and order” rhetoric notwithstanding. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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