Former top Trump White House advisor, conspiracy theorist, and “Big Lie” promoter Peter Navarro, arrested earlier this month after being indicted by a grand jury, told a federal judge he’ll be busy this fall promoting his upcoming book as he rejected several suggested dates and tried to push his trial into next year.
Arraigned at 10:00 AM ET, Navarro pleaded not guilty to two counts of contempt of Congress after ignoring a legal subpoena and refusing to cooperate with the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Navarro repeatedly claimed he would represent himself, but at the last minute hired two attorneys who appeared with him late Friday morning.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports Navarro’s attorney told federal district court Judge Amit Mehta “he wants to slow down the trial schedule after Mehta suggests he has availability in lat[e] August, early September or mid-November. But Navarro’s team says Navarro is planning to put out a book in September and will be on the road a lot.”
Federal prosecutors said the Dept. of Justice has “serious concerns about delaying trial for a book tour.”
Liz Dye, who writes about law and politics for Above The Law, notes Navarro’s “book is on the topics he refused to discuss with the committee citing executive privilege.”
Navarro and his attorneys tried to push the trial to next April.
Judge Mehta warned Navarro after he improperly emailed the court:
Navarro exited the hearing with a protestor behind him holding a sign that reads: “THE BIG LIE ALMOST KILLED OUR DEMOCRACY.”
Outside the court, after his hearing, in a small press conference, Navarro swung into full promotion mode, telling reporters the name of his book and that it’s “on Amazon, by the way.”
Navarro is being mocked on social media, including by this top national security attorney:
And others: