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Video trump press conference today12/15/2023 “That silence strongly corroborates” that there was no formal invocation of privilege, Mehta said. The judge also pointed to the lack of follow-up from Trump to Congress after the House voted to hold Navarro in contempt that April, suggesting that Trump could have communicated to the lawmakers that he had asserted privilege to correct the House’s record. “The lack of detail – in my view – of that testimony is telling,” Mehta said. Navarro’s “nondescript” testimony earlier this week about a February 20, 2022, call during which Trump supposedly asserted the privilege lacked “specificity,” the judge said. Win McNamee/Getty Imagesįormer Trump adviser Peter Navarro's testimony in contempt case is 'weak sauce,' judge says Navarro has a status hearing scheduled today related to his contempt of Congress case. Peter Navarro, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, arrives at federal court on Augin Washington, DC. “You can’t have a Congress, a partisan Congress, that abuses the subpoena process for the purpose of punishing the party that’s out of power.” And as I said at the beginning, this is probably going to the Supreme Court because this is so important,” Navarro said. “These are questions that will certainly move up the chains – the appellate level. He previewed the possibility that Mehta’s conclusions would ultimately be appealed. Navarro, speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s hearing, said Mehta’s ruling concerned “very complex and important constitutional issues related to the separation of powers between the legislative branch and the executive branch.” “The privilege cannot be validly asserted by mere acquiescence,” Mehta said. The judge said Navarro had not put forward adequate evidence to show such an assertion when he was subpoenaed for testimony and documents by the House committee in February 2022. In a lengthy explanation of his ruling delivered from the bench Wednesday, Mehta said he concluded that either Trump himself or someone authorized to assert privilege or immunity on his behalf would have had to personally invoke the privilege for it to be validly asserted. Navarro has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Mehta’s new ruling severely hamstrings the arguments the former Trump aide will be able to present in his defense. Navarro’s criminal case, which was brought by the Justice Department in June 2022, goes to trial next Tuesday. Mehta announced the ruling after holding an evidentiary hearing Monday during which Navarro testified about alleged assertions from Trump. Navarro had not met the burden to establish that Donald Trump formally granted executive privilege or testimonial immunity, US District Judge Amit P. Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro will not be able to argue before a jury at his contempt of Congress trial next week that the former president asserted privilege to shield him from a House January 6 committee subpoena, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
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