Navarro parades photo of Trump at courthouse as prosecutors push for conviction

Former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro brought a photo of his one-time boss to the courthouse as his contempt of Congress trial kicked off Wednesday for his refusal to testify to the Jan. 6 Committee.

“The commander in chief,” Navarro quipped to reporters when asked about the poster before entering the courthouse.

Navarro then showed off the large photo of Trump giving a salute but offered no other explanation as to why he had the poster.

As he headed into the courtroom he struck a solemn tone, lamenting that the pending trial “will be another $10,000 of legal fees. It’s going to be $1 million overall.”

Navarro, 74, is facing two counts for his defiance of subpoenas from the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Committee.

The former presidential advisor contends that the subpoenas were nullified by former President Donald Trump’s executive privilege, the right of a president to keep certain communications confidential.

Prosecutors predictably urged jurors to convict him, arguing that he fragrantly flouted the law by defying a congressional subpoena.

“Mr. Navarro ignored his subpoena,” prosecutor John Crabb told the jury Wednesday, Reuters reported. “He acted as if he’s above the law, but he’s not above the law.”

Navarro has pleaded not guilty to both counts, which carry somewhere between 30 days and one year behind bars as well as a fine of up to $100,000 per charge.

Last week, US District Judge Amit Mehta spurned Navarro’s last-ditch effort to forestall a trial on the grounds of executive privilege.

Mehta was unconvinced that Navarro had sufficient proof Trump used the “magic words” to properly invoke executive privilege at a relevant time.

Earlier this year, a Trump attorney sent a letter to Navarro claiming he “had an obligation to assert executive privilege on his behalf and fully comply with the principles of confidentiality.”

However, even if Trump had properly invoked executive privilege Mehta reportedly suggested that Navarro may have been liable for testimony on any non-priviledged topics.

Jury selection for the 12-member panel took place Tuesday. Navarro previously shrugged off concerns about the pool coming from deep blue Washington, DC.

The House Jan. 6 Committee subpoena against Navarro for testimony came in February of last year, just weeks after he seemingly taunted the Jan. 6 committee.

The trade adviser had implied that the committee wouldn’t dare contact him, due to his ability to clear Trump’s name.

“They don’t want any part of me. I exonerate Trump and Bannon,” he told the Daily Beast in 2021.

The panel was eager to learn about Navarro’s so-called “Green Bay Sweep” plan to overturn the 2020 election results and other details he may have had pertaining to Trump’s broader efforts the thwart the election.

After his defiance, Congress voted to hold him in contempt and referred the matter to the Justice Department, which then formally indicted him in June of last year.

Navarro is not the only Trump administration alum to buck a subpoena demand from the panel.

He was joined by at least three others, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino, and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

The DOJ brought charges against Navarro and Bannon, but not Scavino and Meadows. 

Last year, Bannon was convicted on two contempt charges but has since appealed it.