House Finds Two Ex-Trump Aides in Contempt
The House has voted to recommend criminal contempt of Congress charges against former Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr. after the pair defied subpoenas from the special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
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The House has voted to recommend criminal contempt of Congress charges against former Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr. after the pair defied subpoenas from the special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, reports the New York Times. A contempt of Congress charge carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $100,000. The House vote steered the matter to the Justice Department, which now must decide whether to charge the two men.
The committee said Navarro had worked with Stephen K. Bannon to carry out a plan to delay Congress’s certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021, while Scavino had worked with Trump to spread false information via social media regarding election fraud and had recruited a crowd to Washington on Jan. 6. Navarro also wrote a report alleging a stolen election, which was widely shared with others working to overturn the election, and the committee accused Scavino of having foreknowledge of the potential for violence on the day of the riot. The recommendations come as the Washington Post reports that U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden has found Matthew Martin, a former Energy Department contract engineer, not guilty of trespassing and disorderly conduct, the first acquittal delivered in a Capitol breach prosecution.
