The House voted on Wednesday to hold Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, both onetime aides to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress after they refused to comply with subpoenas from the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
The vote was 220-203. The referral now heads to the Department of Justice, which will decide whether to charge Navarro and Scavino with misdemeanors. If found guilty, they will face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Previously, Congress voted to hold Stephen Bannon, Trump's onetime chief strategist, and Mark Meadows, Trump's final White House chief of staff, in contempt, after they refused to comply with subpoenas. Bannon has been indicted.
Navarro served as a trade adviser to Trump and Scavino was White House deputy chief of staff. In January, Navarro explained to MSNBC host Ari Melber that he and Bannon came up with a plan to overturn President Biden's electoral victory, and roped in more than 100 members of Congress to help. He said their scheme was thwarted once the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted the certification of the election results.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Prior to Wednesday's vote, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said Navarro and Scavino "must be held accountable for their defiance of the law. Even if you do it on your own time, trying to overturn an election is still trying to overturn an election. This kind of cynical behavior as we investigate a violent insurrection is just despicable. It can't stand. Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro must be held accountable for their abuses of the public trust."
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfullySpeed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Gavin Newsom's Trump-style trolling roils critics while thrilling fansTALKING POINTS The California governor has turned his X account into a cutting parody of Trump's digital cadence, angering Fox News conservatives
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records requestSpeed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
-
Texas OKs gerrymander sought by TrumpSpeed Read The House approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping Democratic-held seats to Republican control
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank planSpeed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two
-
Court says labor board's structure unconstitutionalSpeed Read The ruling has broad implications for labor rights enforcement in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi
-
Feds seek harsh charges in DC arrests, except for riflesSpeed Read The DOJ said 465 arrests had been made in D.C. since Trump federalized law enforcement there two weeks ago
-
Judges: Threatened for ruling against TrumpFeature Threats against federal judges across the U.S. have surged since Donald Trump took office
