Judges amazed by Peter Navarro's contempt appeal and hold lawyer's feet to fire as Trump DOJ sits this one out

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Law & Crime

Dec 18th, 2025, 3:51 pm


Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser during President Donald Trump's first term who went on to do time in federal prison for contempt of Congress, insists to this day that his incarceration should never have happened and his convictions should be reversed.

During brisk oral arguments on Thursday afternoon before a three-judge panel of D.C. Circuit judges, Navarro's lawyer Stanley Brand argued, much the same as in briefs, that his client, once again in government as a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, had real executive privilege claims that were wrongly ignored.

The panel was not a good draw for Navarro, as U.S. Circuit Judges Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and J. Michelle Childs — two Barack Obama appointees and one Joe Biden appointee — took a dim view from the start. After roughly one minute of making his case that the Navarro prosecution was the first of its kind, the panel began peppering Brand with questions.

"You have to show up first, right?" Childs asked regarding Navarro's supposed attempt to resolve his dispute with the Jan. 6 Committee over privilege without court intervention. "No, he informed the committee staff that he thought he was bound by privilege," Navarro's attorney answered. "But that was before receiving the actual documents or knowing what the testimony was going to be about and that it might have covered broader than what his actual communications or relationships or job duties were with the White House?" Childs followed up.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/thats-got-nothing-to-do-with-my-question-judges-amazed-by-peter-navarros-contempt-appeal-and-hold-lawyers-feet-to-fire-as-trump-doj-sits-this-one-out/

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Full headline: 'That's got nothing to do with my question': Judges amazed by Peter Navarro's contempt appeal and hold lawyer's feet to fire as Trump DOJ sits this one out

[Javaman]

1. this is the same half wit that convinced (not really hard to do) the orange idiot of using tariffs. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Navarro IS the "Tariff Man".

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Deadline Legal Blog-Peter Navarro had a 'very strange' hearing in his contempt appeal

The Trump adviser is challenging his contempt of Congress conviction. The DOJ under Trump isn’t opposing him.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/peter-navarro-contempt-appeal-121825

At the end of an appellate hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C., a judge told Peter Navarro’s lawyer that she would normally offer him a chance for a rebuttal argument — but, the judge noted, “there’s nothing to rebut.”

“Yes,” Navarro’s lawyer Stanley Brand replied, “that’s been a very strange journey on that front.”

The exchange alluded to the fact that Navarro was the only party presenting arguments at the hearing over his challenge to his contempt of Congress conviction, which he received for not complying with a House Jan. 6 committee subpoena. He was prosecuted during the Biden administration but, under Donald Trump’s administration, the Justice Department told the appeals court that it “is no longer taking the same position as the prior administration in this case.”

In its motion to strike its prior position, the DOJ suggested the D.C. federal appeals court appoint a third party to defend the conviction. But the court declined to do that, leaving only Navarro’s lawyer in court on Thursday.

Despite the lack of opposition, Brand had a tough time before the three-judge panel, which sounded ready to rule against him. On the panel were Judges Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard and J. Michelle Childs (Millett and Pillard are Obama appointees and Childs is a Biden appointee).

Yet even if Navarro loses this round of litigation, his legal journey is likely to continue toward the Supreme Court. He’s pressing the appeal after having already served his prison sentence, which he tried to avoid while he was appealing but the justices refused to save him last year.

[ck4829]

4. K&R