Once again it seems that everybody who’s connected to but not named Donald Trump ends up in hot water for something they did trying to protect the ex-president.
This time, it’s former Trump aide Peter Navarro, who today was indicted by a federal grand jury for contempt of Congress. The charges came after a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and Trump’s possible role in organizing it, subpoenaed Navarro to testify. Navarro refused, and the committee, led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-La.), referred the matter to the Justice Department.
Navarro is the second Trump associate to be charged with contempt related to the House investigation. Former top Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon was similarly indicted last November. A conviction on each of the two counts against Navarro could send him to the box for a year and cost him $100,000 in fines, according to the New York Times. Navarro is 72, so we’re guessing whether he’s rethinking how much is loyalty to Trump is worth.
Former Trump allies seem to have a way of finding themselves behind bars. His former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to tax-related offenses and was sentenced to three years in federal prison in 2018. Those charges stemmed from his involvement in helping Trump funnel hush money to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, of course, was never prosecuted. Ironically Daniels’ former lawyer, Michael Avenatti was sentenced this week for four yeas in jail for ganking Daniels out of $300,000 while she was his client; he’s already wearing an orange jumpsuit for two-and-a-half years after being convicted for trying to extort Nike. Yes, that Nike.
While so many people in his orbit get hauled off to jail, potential criminal charges for his conduct while in office and otherwise so far keep sliding off Trump like this did his one-time role model John Gotti. Trump is currently trying to extinguish New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation of his business practices in New York, facing a criminal investigation of the same by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., and another criminal probe into his attempts to tip the 2020 election in his favor in Fulton County, Ga.