Appeals panel rejects ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro's bid to avoid jail

A panel of federal appeals court judges on Thursday unanimously rejected former Trump adviser Peter Navarro's bid to avoid reporting to prison next week as he works to overturn his conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress.

Navarro, 74, had sought to put his prison sentence on hold pending a longshot effort to overturn the charges, which stemmed from his failure to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Attorneys for Navarro have indicated they will take their appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

But on Thursday, a panel of three circuit court judges said Navarro "has not shown that his appeal presents substantial questions of law or fact likely to result in reversal," and he therefore must report to prison next week as scheduled.

Judges Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard and Robert Wilkins of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals signed onto Thursday's order.

Navarro must report by the afternoon of March 19 to a facility in Miami, his attorneys wrote in court papers earlier this week, where he is to serve a four-month sentence.

He would become the first former Trump adviser to report to jail for actions related to Jan. 6.

In testimony during Navarro's trial, former Jan. 6 committee staff director David Buckley said the House panel had been seeking to question Navarro about efforts to delay Congress' certification of the 2020 election, a plan Navarro dubbed the "Green Bay Sweep" in his book, "In Trump Time."

Navarro unsuccessfully argued that former President Donald Trump had asserted executive privilege over his testimony and document production.