Appeals court upholds Peter Navarro contempt conviction

A federal appeals court on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, unanimously upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser to President Donald Trump. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the lower court's ruling, rejecting Navarro's claim that he was shielded from a congressional subpoena by executive privilege.

Navarro was convicted in September 2023 on two counts of contempt for refusing to testify or provide documents to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was sentenced to four months in prison, a sentence he served in early 2024 before being released. Despite completing his sentence, Navarro has continued to challenge the conviction through the courts.

The central issue in his appeal was whether former President Trump had formally invoked executive privilege to prevent Navarro's cooperation with Congress. The appeals court found that Navarro failed to provide any evidence that Trump or a designee had done so. In a written opinion, Judge Patricia Millett stated that the district court correctly concluded Navarro had asserted the...