Peter Navarro Given A Gag Order

(RoyalPatriot.com )- Peter Navarro had been
seeking a delay in his trial for the criminal contempt of Congress charge that was levied against him recently.

However, a U.S. district judge denied that request recently, also slapping the former trade adviser to the White House with a gag order in advance of his arraignment on June 17.

Judge Amit Mehta denied Navarro’s request for a stay of 45 days in his case so that he could secure proper legal counsel. The gag order that was issued also bars him from talking about any of the evidence that’s going to be presented.

Navarro was charged with contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House’s January 6 investigating committee. He said that he would not comply because former President Donald Trump has claimed executive privilege in the case that would protect any of the private communications that happened between him and the president.

In the ruling issued earlier this week, Mehta wrote:

“The court will not delay the upcoming arraignment and status conference, as the public interest weighs in favor of moving this case forward through its preliminary stages. To be clear, this is not a ‘gag’ order on restricting Navarro about speaking to the media on evidence in the case.

“The protective order does not bar defendant from making public statements about these proceedings; rather, the protective order places limits on defendant’s use of discovery materials produced by the government. Defendant must abide by its terms, absent a modification by the court.”

The House select committee had subpoenaed Navarro to provide documents to them and also testify in front of them as part of their investigation. He brought forth a lawsuit that sought to block that subpoena from being enforced.

Just a few days later, he was arrested at an airport.

After he was arrested, Navarro initially said he would represent him in the case, since his legal fees were likely to be too much for him to afford. However, he apparently changed his mind and requested a 45-day delay in the proceedings so that he could secure proper legal representation.

As he explained this week after the delay was denied:

“I’m looking at what experts are telling me could be up to a million dollars or more in legal fees to fight this bogus charge. A bridge too far here for the Department of Justice and the FBI …

“I literally live across the street from the FBI. It’s common when you have this white collar offense — that’s not even fraud, it’s just a technical offense — to arrange what’s called a voluntary surrender, and I had reached out to the FBI agent two days before they took me down at the airport and said, ‘Hey, whatever you need, I’m there.’

“They didn’t’ do that. And that just cemented the idea that this was a show trial.”

Navarro has also said that he asked for an attorney after he was arrested, but was only offered one a few minutes before he was to appear before the judge.