US Capitol riot committee sets contempt vote for two former Trump aides
24 March 2022, 18:34
The committee subpoenaed Mr Navarro for his testimony in early February, while Mr Scavino was subpoenaed last September.
The House committee investigating the Capitol riot has set a vote for next week to consider contempt of Congress charges for two aides of former president Donald Trump.
The committee will meet on Monday to discuss whether to recommend referring for potential prosecution Mr Trump’s former trade adviser, Peter Navarro, and Dan Scavino, the onetime chief of staff for communications.
The committee subpoenaed Mr Navarro for his testimony in early February, seeking to question the Trump ally who promoted false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Though Mr Navarro sought to use executive privilege to avoid cooperation, the Biden administration this month denied claims from him and another onetime Trump aide, former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Mr Scavino, who was subpoenaed last September, called the committee vote “an unprecedented partisan assault on executive privilege. The committee knows full well that President Trump has invoked executive privilege and it is not my privilege to waive”.
He said it was “premature for the committee to pursue criminal charges against an individual of the highest rank within the White House for whom executive privilege undeniably applies”.
Mr Scavino said the dispute seemed “inevitably headed” to the Supreme Court, and until there was a resolution, the House committee “should cease its tactics of harassment and intimidation”.
Mr Navarro did not immediately return a messages seeking comment.
