Ex-Trump advisers Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino to face Jan. 6 panel criminal referral

The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Capitol attack will vote on Monday to hold two former Trump White House advisers, Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr., in criminal contempt of Congress.

Navarro was the former trade adviser, while Scavino was former deputy chief of staff.

The two had been named in earlier committee subpoenas to testify, with Navarro receiving his subpoena in February and Scavino among the first wave of ex-Trump White House officials to receive demands for his testimony last September.

Neither could be reached immediately for comment.

After he was subpoenaed in February, Navarro had described the panel as "terrorists" and called the probe a "partisan witch hunt." Scavino, for his part, attacked a "false and misleading narrative" after there was a delay to serve his subpoena, but has limited his public comments related to the demands.

With the committee's approval, the move would send the criminal contempt referrals to the full House to take up a vote. If the House also approves the referrals, it would then move onto the Justice Department for potential prosecution.

Monday's meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. ET, would mark the fourth such gathering for the committee.

The panel has previously approved criminal contempt referrals for ex-strategist Steve Bannon, ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Both referrals for Bannon and Meadows were approved by the full House, with the final referral before the House in December for Meadows. But so far, the Justice Department has only pursued prosecution for one of those cases, Bannon, who is now battling related criminal charges.

Already, the committee has issued more than 90 public subpoenas. In all, the panel has interviewed more than 750 witnesses, the vast majority voluntarily, and received about 87,000 records. [Copyright 2022 NPR]