“A federal jury in Washington has convicted former Trump aide Peter Navarro of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena…
One of his lawyers, John Rowley, also said this was ‘a landmark case’ and added that it ‘won’t be decided here finally—it will be decided by the D.C. Court of Appeals.’
The court was wrong to block Mr. Navarro’s planned defense that his actions were covered by executive privilege because he was an adviser to the president of the United States, he said.
Executive privilege is necessary for a president and ‘part and parcel’ of his office and ‘no express invocation of privilege is even necessary,’ he said.”
Analyst Comment: The strategy of blocking a defendant’s defense appears to be more common in politicized trials. A similar tactic was employed by the judge in the Whitmer kidnapping retrial, where the judge is refusing to let the defense argue or even present evidence that shows the Whitmer plot was entrapment. How can you win your case if you can’t even present a feasible defense? You can’t.