Judge Orders Peter Navarro to Turn Over Private Emails That Discussed White House Work

A District of Columbia federal judge has ordered Peter Navarro, former President Donald Trump’s trade and political advisor, to hand over hundreds of emails from a personal email account that were related to his official work.

In August 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) was created Filled a civil claim (pdfNavarro was accused of keeping copies of emails he had stored on a private email address. These emails should have been given to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of Trump’s term. The government argued that Navarro’s work-related communication fell under the Presidential Records Act.

Navarro was identified by his attorneys as having between 200 and 250 emails in encrypted Proton Mail. The search terms used by NARA to find documents were similar and probably related to Navarro’s work with the Trump administration.

Navarro’s lawyers argued that the records sharing requirements only applied to work-related communication he sent and not emails he received. In an opinion issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar Kotelly, Navarro’s lawyers argued that the records-sharing requirements only applied to work-related communications he sent, and not emails he received. She stated that the PRA requirements apply to all communications sent or received by President Obama or his advisers.

“All the emails in Dr. Navarro’s personal email account, whether created or received, are therefore subject to being assessed as potential presidential records if they arose out of his employment in the administration,” Kollar-Kottelly was a Clinton appointee.

Kollar–Kottelly instructed Navarro to immediately hand over the 200-250 emails his legal teams found to be relevant to NARA’s requests for information. The judge also directed Navarro’s legal team, as well as government lawyers, to agree on a protocol to examine other emails stored in Navarro’s account to determine if any communications are covered by the PRA.

Criminal Contempt Case Navarro

The dispute over Navarro’s emails overlaps a criminal case involving the former Trump advisor.

The DOJ brought charges against Congress contempt After he refused to cooperate with a subpoena issued by the now-defunct House Committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2020, breach of U.S. Capitol, Navarro was convicted in June 2022.

Jan. 6 Committee allege that Navarro had information in its subpoena “directly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.” Particularly, Committee argued Navarro was a key player in the preparation of a report discussing strategies that then-President Donald Trump (and his political allies) could use to challenge the certification for the 2020 election results.

Navarro had cited Trump executive privilege claims when he decided not to comply subpoenas from the Democrat-controlled Committee.

In Navarro’s defense Harvard professor emeritus, and constitutional law scholar Alan Dershowitz argued Congress and DOJ should have sought a judicial determination over Navarro’s privilege claim and allowed him to comply with the subpoena if it was rejected.

Navarro Plead “not guilty” The contempt charges are and Rejected a plea deal From the DOJ, July 2022.

In January, the federal judge in charge of Navarro’s criminal case agreed to You can delay the trial Both sides tried to evaluate the executive privilege issues further, but Navarro had already claimed.

Navarro’s legal team argued during the civil case that Navarro was required to hand over his personal emails because the DOJ could use them against him in his criminal case. This violated his Fifth Amendment right of protection against self-incrimination. Kollar Kotelly rebutted this argument, writing: “producing these preexisting records in no way implicates a compelled testimonial communication that is incriminating.”

If Navarro is convicted for contempt of Congress, he could face up to a year imprisonment or fines up to $100,000, or both.

From NTD News