(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been ordered by a federal judge to return presidential records he has in his possession.
Navarro, who was then-President Donald Trump’s White House trade adviser, “continues to possess Presidential records that have not been produced to their rightful owner, the United States,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote on Tuesday.
The case is separate from Navarro’s criminal contempt of Congress conviction, where he was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine for defying a congressional subpoena to cooperate with the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a six-page opinion regarding the presidential records, Kollar-Kotelly asked Navarro to “show cause why he should not be held in contempt of the Court’s judgment” after he defied her order to return the records.
“Defendant is ordered to SHOW CAUSE why he should not be held in contempt of the Court’s judgment, on or before March 21, 2024,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly.
Navarro also has until March 20 to “reprocess” the remaining records in his possession, which the filing says amounts to approximately 600 records.
In testimony during Navarro’s contempt of Congress trial, former Jan. 6 committee staff director David Buckley said the panel was seeking to question Navarro about efforts to delay Congress’ certification of the 2020 election, a plan Navarro dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep” in his book, In Trump Time.
Earlier this month, a judge denied Navarro’s request to remain out of prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction. The Bureau of Prisons has not yet set a date for Navarro to report to prison.
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