Brace yourself for a tale of political chess moves as the Trump Justice Department pivots away from Biden-era arguments in the contempt case against Peter Navarro, a staunch Trump adviser, while curiously pushing for an outside lawyer to uphold his conviction.
Just The News reported that Navarro, a key advisor to Trump, was charged in 2022 by the Biden DOJ for defying a subpoena from the Democrat-led House committee probing the January 6, 2021, events, leading to a conviction in 2023 and a four-month prison stint in 2024, only to see the Trump DOJ now shift its stance on appeal.
Navarro’s journey began when he refused to comply with the subpoena, citing executive privilege, a claim dismissed by President Biden and his DOJ.
White House Counsel under Biden declared in February 2022 that such a privilege assertion wasn’t in the national interest. Talk about a convenient sidestep—when executive privilege suits the agenda, it’s sacred; when it doesn’t, it’s expendable.
Convicted in 2023 under Judge Amit P. Mehta, an Obama appointee to the D.C. District Court, Navarro served his sentence but emerged swinging, speaking at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, the day of his release.
“If they can come for me, and if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful, they will come for you,” Navarro warned at the convention.
That’s a chilling reminder of how law enforcement can be weaponized, especially when selective prosecutions—like targeting Navarro and Steve Bannon while sparing Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino—raise eyebrows about fairness.
Navarro appealed his conviction in January 2024 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with his legal team arguing in July 2024 that he consistently invoked executive privilege and urged the committee to consult Trump, which they ignored.
The Biden DOJ doubled down in a September 2024 brief, insisting that even if Trump had claimed privilege, the committee’s needs trumped it. How noble of them to decide what’s more important than constitutional protections, as if executive privilege is just a suggestion when it suits their narrative.
Now, the Trump DOJ has signaled in a joint status report from late August 2024 that it won’t echo Biden’s arguments on privilege, yet it wants an outside lawyer to defend Navarro’s conviction on appeal. Navarro, unsurprisingly, objects and demands that the DOJ clarify this head-scratching maneuver.
“DOJ opposed my release pending appeal by falsely insisting there were no substantial questions of law,” Navarro stated.
“Now, by trying to withdraw its own brief without explanation, it admits those questions exist.” It’s hard not to see this as an admission of overreach, leaving one wondering if this is accountability or just more political theater.
Adding fuel to the fire, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hobel, the lead prosecutor defending the Biden DOJ’s case, has donated thousands to Democratic causes, including over $5,600 to Biden’s 2020 campaign, $1,250 to Harris for President in 2023, and $1,500 in 2024, per FEC records.
Hobel, who joined the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2016 and previously advised on Guantánamo closure under Obama, also gave to various Democratic campaigns like Raphael Warnock’s in 2022.
While personal donations don’t inherently prove bias, they certainly paint a picture of ideological leanings that could make one question the impartiality of this prosecution.
Navarro’s role hasn’t diminished despite the ordeal; in December 2024, Trump named him a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, with Trump calling him a man “treated horribly by the Deep State.”
That label might resonate when you consider the historical double standard—Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder faced contempt of Congress in 2012 but escaped prosecution under the shield of executive privilege.