- The House select committee investigating the
Capitol riot subpoenaed ex-White House advisor Peter Navarro. - Navarro has backed former President Donald
Trump 's baseless claims that voter fraud cost him the 2020 election.
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot subpoenaed former President Donald Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro on Wednesday.
In a letter to Navarro, committee chairman Bennie Thompson wrote that the former White House official has documents and information relevant to the panel's probe.
Thompson wrote Navarro "reportedly worked with Steve Bannon," referencing Trump's one-time chief strategist, "and others to develop and implement a plan to delay Congress's certification of, and ultimately change the outcome of, the November 2020 presidential election."
Navarro has backed Trump's baseless claims that the widespread voter fraud cost the former president the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, in his new book "In Trump Time," Navarro said he and Bannon cooked up a plan called the "Green Bay Sweep" to overturn Trump's election loss.
Thompson noted that in Navarro's book, he "reportedly described this plan as the 'Green Bay Sweep,' and stated that it was designed as the 'last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats' jaws of deceit.'"
The January 6 committee requested that Navarro hand over documents and sit for a deposition to answer questions related to the investigation.
Soon after the letter went public, Navarro responded by pointing to Trump's claim of executive privilege.
"As the domestic terrorists running the January 6 partisan witch hunt are well aware, President Trump has invoked Executive Privilege; and it is not my privilege to waive," Navarro told CNN in a statement. "They should negotiate any waiver of the privilege with the president and his attorneys directly, not through me."
Navarro went on to cite his book's mention of "Green Bay Sweep," adding that "the last three people on God's good earth who wanted chaos and violence on Capitol Hill were President Trump, Steve Bannon, and I."
In October, Bannon defied a subpoena from the January 6 committee, similarly claiming protection through Trump's executive privilege. But the House later voted to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress, and in November, a federal grand jury indicted Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress.
Several other figures in Trump's circle have failed to comply with the committee's subpoenas, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The House voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress in December.