U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta scheduled Navarro’s trial for Nov. 17.
Former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The plea came at a brief hearing in federal district court in Washington, where Navarro appeared with his new lawyers, John P. Rowley III and John S. Irving IV, and took a less combative posture than he had immediately after his arrest. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta scheduled his trial for Nov. 17. Navarro, 72, faces up to one year in prison if convicted of the two contempt counts, one involving his refusal to appear for a deposition and another involving his refusal to produce documents to the committee in response to a subpoena. Outside the court, Navarro’s defense attorney questioned the appropriateness of Navarro’s arrest, but said the legal team would take that matter up “at the appropriate time.” Navarro alleges he was in contact with the FBI and could have turned himself in, but that agents improperly pulled him off a jetway at Reagan National Airport and put him in handcuffs and leg chains
“I’m telling you as a former federal prosecutor, for a misdemeanor charge in a white collar case involving what is essentially a process crime, handcuffs and leg irons are not the order of the day,” Rowley said, adding that the arrest and rapid announcement of charges were “obviously done for the purpose of humiliating Mr.
