One-time Donald Trump advisor Peter Navarro claimed Donald Trump ordered him to claim their conversations on efforts to overthrow the 2020 election results were covered by executive privilege during his testimony in federal court Monday as Navarro fights contempt of Congress charges.
As CBS News reports, Navarro says he spoke with Trump eleven days after receiving the subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on Congress, and Trump instructed Navarro not to cooperate with the committee. “It was clear during that call that privilege was involved, very clear,” Navarro said on the stand.
Prosecutors urged Judge Amit Mehta to cancel the hearing given Trump himself would not take the stand to testify to his command, arguing that Navarro’s claim is unsubstantiated without evidence or testimony that Trump actually gave the order. While Mehta allowed the claim to be argued, he was less than impressed with veracity of Navarro’s testimony, noting, “I still don’t have any inkling of what the president’s words were.”