An appeals court on Thursday rejected a request by Trump White House official Peter Navarro to avoid jail time on contempt of Congress charges.
Navarro has been ordered to report to federal prison by March 19. He argued that he should remain free because of his conviction for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington disagreed, finding his appeal was unlikely to overturn his conviction. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, but has previously said he will appeal to the Supreme Court.
Navarro is the second Trump aide to be convicted of contempt of Congress. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was previously sentenced to four months in prison, but another judge allowed him to remain free while he appeals.
Navarro was found guilty of defying a Jan. 6 House committee subpoena for documents and testimony. He served as a White House trade adviser under then-President Donald Trump and later pushed baseless Republican claims of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Joe Biden.
Navarro said he was unable to cooperate with the committee because Trump invoked executive privilege. However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta barred him from raising that argument at trial, finding that he had failed to show that Trump actually invoked it.
