The former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro said he has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury this week and turn over documents related to the Jan. 6 riot, including any communications with formal President Trump and his counsel or representative. Navarro plans to file a lawsuit against the House committee this week over the attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a draft copy of a lawsuit he's planning to file this week. The draft that Navarro shared with NBC News said the committee's subpoena to him is unlawful and unenforceable and should be thrown out by a judge.
The House voted to refer Navarro to the Department of Justice on a criminal contempt of Congress charge last month after he snubbed the House committee's subpoena for testimony and documents.
In his 88-sided draft lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times, Navarro said that two FBI special agents banged loudly on my door in the early morning hours to present me with a fruit of the poisonous tree grand jury subpoena that he testify before and hand documents over to a grand jury on Thursday.
Navarro argues that the subpoena should be thrown out by the judge because it is based on the House subpoena. He did not respond immediately when asked if he would comply with the grand jury subpoena.
Among the legal arguments in the filing is that he can't be forced to speak because former President Donald Trump hasn't waived executive privileges about their communications. Navarro has publicly boasted about plans to upend the 2020 election results, and even published a book last year in which he refers to the plan as the Green Bay Sweep, and has been mocked by members of the House panel. Navarro said that his strategy was designed to be the last chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats' jaws of deceit. Navarro said that the plan was to have lawmakers on Capitol Hill debate the results of six swing states in the hope of having Congress declare the results to be in dispute. The House would select the President based on each congressional delegation getting a vote. Since Republicans controlled more state delegations than Democrats, Navarro s plan assumed that Trump would get a second term in office. Navarro said that Trump was on board with the strategy. It's not clear who the grand jury has subpoenaed Navarro. Last month, Ali Alexander, who helped organize a series of pro-Trump events in November and December of 2020 after President Joe Biden won the election, said he was cooperating with a grand jury looking for information related to rallies held by Trump supporters in Washington.