(JustPatriots.com)- The former trade adviser to the White House, Peter Navarro, says he will represent himself in the lawsuit he has filed against the House January 6 investigating committee.
At the same time he made this announcement, he also said he was recently served by a subpoena from a grand jury that was convened by prosecutors in the Capitol riot probe.
Navarro, who worked under the administration of former President Donald Trump, plans to file a lawsuit that will fight the contempt charges that have been brought against him for not complying with the House Select Committee’s subpoena they issued for his testimony about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
In the filings he made on May 26, Navarro wrote that two special agents with the FBI “banged loudly” on his door to present him with a “fruit of the poisonous tree” subpoena.
This new subpoena, according to Navarro, demands that he testifies in front of the panel on June 2. He’s also being required to present any documents related to the first subpoena they issued to him and also any documents related to communications he had with the former president and his counsel.
The lawsuit states Navarro will represent himself in the case, as hiring an outside counsel could cost him more than $100,000. In the filing, he wrote:
“Alternatively, as I have chosen, I must do the legal work pro se and thereby pay the substantial opportunity costs of the time I must use by writing this brief and representing myself.”
Navarro was held in contempt of Congress back in April for not complying with the subpoena issued to him. That happened at the same time the House panel held Dan Scavino, the former deputy chief of staff for communications, with contempt.
The subpoena was issued to Navarro after he publicly admitted that he was part of the inner circle of the former president. That team planned on trying to pressure Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, to not certify the results of the 2020 Electoral College.
Navarro admitted as much in public and also in the book he wrote, “In Trump Time.”
He refused to comply with that subpoena, though, citing executive privilege, as many of Trump’s allies have done in the past. The Supreme Court rejected that argument, though, allowing the House panel to move forward with their subpoenas — or to hold those who chose not to comply in contempt of Congress.
The high court ruled that executive privilege could only be invoked by a previous president if the current president was OK with it. President Joe Biden, though, said doing so wouldn’t be in the “best interests” of America.
But, Navarro still argued in his brief that the executive privilege that Trump invoked is “not mine or Joe Biden’s to waive.” He continued:
“Rather, as with the Committee, the U.S. Attorney has constitutional and due process obligations to negotiate my appearance before the Grand Jury not with me but rather with President Trump and his attorneys.
“I am bound by privilege to fail to comply with this Grand Jury Subpoena absent these negotiations and guidance from President Trump.”
