Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro is about to become the first official from that administration to serve prison time and the first White House official to be jailed for contempt of Congress, after the Supreme Court denied a last-ditch bid to stave off the sentence.
Mr. Navarro, 74, is due at a minimum-security camp in Miami, Florida, on March 19 to start serving his four-month sentence for his 2023 conviction of contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the Democrat-led House Jan. 6 select committee.
“For the first time in 240 years, a White House aide will be sent to prison for contempt of Congress despite unbroken Department of Justice opinions asserting that application of the criminal contempt statute cannot constitutionally be applied to them,” Mr. Navarro’s defense lawyer Stanley Brand told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Brand said all current and future White House officials will now be “subject to Congressional contempt in violation of separation of powers” and the “ability of presidents to be assured of confidentiality with their close advisers.”
Mr. Navarro previously filed an emergency petition to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on March 15 to avoid reporting to prison on March 19, but Justice Roberts rejected the bid on March 18 and declined to pause Mr. Navarro’s sentence.
“This application concerns only the question of whether the applicant, Peter Navarro, has met his burden to establish his entitlement to relief under the Bail Reform Act,” Justice Roberts wrote.
He referenced an appeals court’s decision that Mr. Navarro “forfeited” the ability to challenge a district court determination that former President Donald Trump did not evoke executive privilege.
“I see no basis to disagree with the determination that Navarro forfeited those arguments in the release proceeding, which is distinct from his pending appeal on the merits,” Justice Roberts added.
In response to Justice Roberts’s ruling, Mr. Navarro released a statement on March 18 saying he would continue to appeal his case, even if a resolution comes after the end of his prison sentence, as “the constitutional separation of powers will be irreparably damaged and doctrine of executive privilege … will cease to function,” if the appeal fails, he said.
He said his “partisan” imprisonment should “chill the bones of every American.”
“In Joe Biden’s weaponized justice system, a Democrat controlled Congress and Justice Department together with an Obama-appointed District Judge and three Obama-appointed Appeals Court judges drove the Navarro railroad right into prison.
Preparing for Prison
Beyond being the first White House official to spend time behind bars for contempt of Congress, Mr. Navarro—who has no previous criminal record—is also charting new territory by going to prison for the first time.“Anyone going into this would naturally be very worried, scared, and concerned. It is a different environment. And certainly, one that surely all of my clients would never be familiar [with],” said Sam Mangel, Mr. Navarro’s prison consultant.
Mr. Mangel helps prepare convicts, especially first-time offenders like Mr. Navarro, for their jail or prison sentences.
Mr. Navarro is not expected to serve his full sentence since, “in general, anybody in here with his security status, and a lack of any record, with a four-month sentence, typically serves no more than 90 days,” Mr. Mangel told The Epoch Times.
He added that two of his former clients are in the Miami prison currently and can help Mr. Navarro “acclimate” by providing him with initial toiletries, suggestions for bed assignments, and help him find work among the “myriad of options” the prison offers.
Due to Mr. Navarro’s age, he is unlikely to be put on hard labor, but as far as the exact work he‘ll be doing in prison, Mr. Mangel said: “He’ll have to figure that out” as age, sentence, and medical conditions dictate what work an inmate is eligible for.
Mr. Navarro is also hoping to be placed in a dormitory for elderly inmates, which Mr. Mangel said is much quieter, cleaner, and “less chaotic” than dorms with younger inmates.
Even though the Miami prison is one of the oldest in the country, it has air conditioning “as long as it works,” Mr. Mangel said, but there are fans available for inmates whenever it is inoperable.
“They do their best; it’s not a hotel. [Inmates] have to realize that [they’re] not going to the four seasons or even to Motel Six,” he said. “It’s not ‘club fed’ as people [or] the press tends to make it. That’s not what these camps are.”
The prisons also have zero privacy. No matter what dormitory an inmate is in, rooms are open-door only, and all activities are constantly monitored by staff.
Available activities include volleyball, bocce, running on the large outdoor track, chess, backgammon, and classes taught by staff and inmates.
There are also 20 television sets in the facility, with some in Spanish, as the prison houses both American and Puerto Rican inmates.
“While yes, prison’s ultimately very boring—the more productive you are, the quicker your time passes, and the more you can make [of it] that kind of downtime gives you a chance to really consider why [you are] there and kind of keep your priorities straight,” Mr. Mangel added.
Mr. Navarro will also get 510 minutes of free phone calls each month, and unlimited emails from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Emails outside of that time frame cost five cents a minute.
Everything Mr. Mangel described applies to “what any person would experience going to a minimum security camp that has a consultant or somebody to guide [them],” he said, and not necessarily specific to Mr. Navarro because his situation is uniquely his own.
Still, Mr. Mangel understands what it’s like after having consulted others in Mr. Navarro’s shoes.
“I feel bad for him, as I do for everybody who gets in that situation. But it'll be over quick,” he said.
