Peter Navarro Wises Up, Lawyers Up, Shuts Up

Peter Navarro experienced a ordinary early morning in court.

In any other context, this would be a “man bites dog” tale. But Navarro’s modern judicial track document is so hilariously batshit that it bears mentioning when he manages to display up before a tribunal and not chew the household furniture.

After defying subpoenas from both equally Congress and a federal grand jury, Trump’s anti-China econ loon filed a pro se civil suit towards Nancy Pelosi and the US Attorney in DC. It is not clear what he thought would occur up coming, but soon thereafter he obtained picked up by the FBI and discovered himself on the pointy close of a criminal contempt indictment.

Navarro proceeded to accuse the FBI of treating him “worse than al Qaeda” demanded considerable discovery soon after accusing the FBI of illegally reciting his Miranda warning from memory alternatively than looking through it off a card claimed to have a lawyer recognized to the governing administration while concurrently accusing the govt of using gain of his pro se position and requested that his legal trial be postponed until the conclusion of his civil situation.

All of which was completed by ever more peevish e-mails to US District Decide Amit Mehta’s courtroom deputy, on which he only bothered to CC prosecutors just after a stern warning from the courtroom about ex parte communications.

Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see any a lot more messages like this a person, while, considering the fact that “Peter Navarro, Pro se actively trying to get counsel” is no a lot more.

As of previous night time, Navarro eventually retained counsel and will be represented by white collar protection law firm John Rowley and environmental attorney John Irving, both of whom are previous federal prosecutors.

Their initially action was to dismiss the civil scenario towards Pelosi with out prejudice. So significantly, so typical! And indeed the arraignment was devoid of the antics that Navarro has engaged as a result far, with the derp-endant pleading “not guilty” to both charges devoid of prolonged fanfare.

Rowley mildly stated that they’d withdrawn the civil go well with for the reason that of a deadline situation (not since it was grade-A wackassery), and Judge Mehta responded that they could probably hash out most of the challenges relating to the legitimacy of the January 6 Find Committee in his very own courtroom.

Navarro’s counsel did point out Steve Bannon’s circumstance, even though he failed to note that Judge Carl J. Nichols currently dominated towards Bannon, refusing to entertain the argument that the committee is illegally constituted, that its subpoenas are invalid, and that it has no respectable legislative objective. And Judge Timothy Kelly located no distinctive when the RNC attempted to evade the committee’s subpoena, although disclosure is blocked pending attractiveness. But if Kelly and Nichols, each of whom were being appointed by Trump, weren’t receptive to this argument, it seems contrary toly that Navarro’s going to get a distinctive outcome from Judge Mehta, an Obama appointee.

The hearing was not with out hilarity, nonetheless, with Navarro’s lawyers arguing that their client simply cannot perhaps be attempted for the duration of 2022 because he’ll be out on e-book tour endorsing his most recent quantum opus. Which is … a new just one. This book, like his prior just one, addresses his time in the Trump administration, a subject matter he insists he cannot testify on for the reason that of executive privilege.

Choose Mehta chuckled slightly at the request to postpone the prosecution so Navarro can flog his book, noting that “the fact pattern isn’t that tough listed here,” and insisting that they will need to go to demo for the duration of this calendar year. Despite the fact that his docket is groaning below the pounds of January 6 defendants, significantly the Oath Keeper militiamen billed with sedition, he set the case for trial in November.

Navarro was notably a lot more restrained in the media scrum outside the house the White Residence.

Which is in all probability excellent for the administration of justice, even if it is way considerably less entertaining for legal bloggers to cover.

US v. Navarro [Docket via Court Listener]

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Liz Dye lives in Baltimore the place she writes about legislation and politics.