Peter Navarro gave the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill the cold shoulder Wednesday.
The former White House trade adviser did not appear for his scheduled deposition before the Jan. 6 panel Wednesday, insisting that former President Donald Trump's assertion of executive privilege precluded him from cooperating with the committee.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS PETER NAVARRO
"My hands are tied in this matter as the Executive Privilege asserted by President Trump is not my privilege to waive. The Committee has a firm legal obligation to negotiate this matter directly with Trump and his attorneys before attempting to coerce and bully me into cooperating with its highly partisan effort. If the president waives privilege, I will appear," Navarro said in a statement to CNN.
Navarro insisted President Joe Biden "illegitimately" tried to waive executive privilege. He also said the Jan. 6 committee "exposed the weak underbelly" of its case, adding, "That unconstitutional dog won't hunt at the Supreme Court, where this case is headed — and I welcome an expedited review."
The committee subpoenaed Navarro last month, seeking information he had about efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election and his so-called Green Bay Sweep plan he hatched with former Trump strategist Steve Bannon to overturn the election. Prior to the subpoena, Navarro practically dared the committee to come after him.
“They don’t want any part of me. I exonerate Trump and Bannon," he told the Daily Beast.
Navarro maintained that he could prove Trump's innocence in the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill because, he claimed, the violence obstructed the scheme to thwart the certification of the 2020 election.
Navarro wrote a book describing the Green Bay Sweep and rehashing his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump — claims that have been roundly rejected by the courts and election officials. He also gave interviews to various media outlets about his claims.
The Jan. 6 committee argued that if Navarro was willing to discuss publicly efforts to upend the 2020 election, he should be willing to testify before the committee about that topic. Navarro insists that he is legally obligated to comply with Trump's assertion of executive privilege.
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It is unclear how the committee intends to respond. The Washington Examiner reached out to a representative for the Jan. 6 committee for comment but did not receive a response.
Navarro is not the first to defy a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Last year, Congress voted to hold Mark Meadows and Bannon in contempt for failing to comply with their subpoenas. Both men cited executive privilege as justification for their lack of compliance and are battling their respective contempt charges in court.