Trump-era Trade Adviser Navarro Formally Files Lawsuit Against Jan. 6 Panel, Justice Department

Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser in the Trump White House, disclosed on Monday that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) subpoenaed him to appear before a federal grand jury this week as part of the government’s probe into the deadly US Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. The 72-year-old intends to respond to the subpoena by Wednesday.

Former Trump-era trade adviser Peter Navarro has formally filed a lawsuit against both the panel probing the January 6 insurrection and the US Department of Justice, alleging that the bodies possess no legal right to hold him in contempt over his refusal to comply with the investigation.

Navarro told The Hill that the suit was initially drafted against the 9-member panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans, but the DoJ was weaved in after he was delivered a subpoena by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Monday.

“It is 99 percent aimed at the kangaroo committee that [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)] formed. I drafted my lawsuit prior to any communication from the US attorney. And just before I was going to file it, I got this other subpoena so I just included that in the filing,” the 72-year-old disclosed to the outlet.

In his 88-page filing with the federal district court of Washington, DC, Navarro claims that the DoJ subpoena — dubbed ”Grand Jury Subpoena #GJ2022052590979“— is a “derivative” of the House panel’s subpoena.

“Repeated abuses by partisans and political score settlers like those on the Committee have institutionalized a partisan weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers that now threatens the delicate balance and separation of powers between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches,” Navarro wrote.

Navarro, who is not an attorney, intends to represent himself in the tentative case, which comes as the first defendant-led challenge to the January 6 panel.

The lawsuit is part of a larger effort to make the “Supreme Court address a number of issues that have come with the weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers” since 2017, when Trump took office, according to Navarro’s Tuesday interview with the Associated Press.

Early last month, the House panel probing the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol building voted in favor of recommending Navarro for contempt after he failed to comply with the committee’s subpoena. The matter then went to the full House of Representatives, which voted in favor of advancing the recommendation to the US Department of Justice.

The DoJ has yet to take action related to the referral on Navarro.

A contempt of Congress charge carries a prison sentence of up to two years and a maximum fine of $200,000.

Navarro previously referred to the House panel’s probe as an “unprecedented partisan assault on executive privilege” — a defense invoked by former US President Donald Trump and a handful of his allies, despite judicial disagreement.

Back in January, a federal appeals court ruled that executive privilege would not shield Trump from having to produce documents relevant to the investigation and an alleged effort to overturn the 2020 US presidential election — even if the former US president was still in office. The decision was later upheld by the US Supreme Court.