The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 will meet on Monday to decide whether to refer two former Trump administration aides to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress.
Former economic adviser Peter Navarro and former deputy White House chief of staff Dan Scavino have both reportedly ignored subpoenas issued by the panel, according to NBC News. The committee's members will meet on Monday evening to vote on whether to make the referrals, which would then be subject to a vote by the full House of Representatives.
Scavino was first subpoenaed last year as part of the panel's investigation. Navarro was subpoenaed last month, and he described the committee's actions as "premature" in a statement to The Associated Press. He claimed that former President Donald Trump "has invoked executive privilege and it is not my privilege to waive." However, current President Joe Biden denied Navarro's claims of executive privilege in February.
"President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the national interest, and therefore is not justified, with respect to particular subjects within the purview of the select committee," White House deputy counsel Jonathan Su wrote in letters sent to Navarro and an attorney representing former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said last month when announcing the subpoena for records and testimony from Navarro that he "appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee's investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol."
Thompson also said that Navarro "hasn't been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former president's support for those plans. More than 500 witnesses have provided information in our investigation, and we expect Mr. Navarro to do so as well."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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