To the great disappointment of Nancy Pelosi and her January 6 inquisition, the DOJ has declined to prosecute the biggest Democrat target, Mark Meadows. They aren’t going after his deputy, Dan Scavino, either. Trump advisor Peter Navarro is a whole different story and the Ministry of Justice plans to throw the book at him.
DOJ ‘declines’ persecution
The DOJ decided that going after Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and his Deputy, Dan Scavino, for contempt of congress, would be more of a persecution than a prosecution. So, Merrick Garland “declined.”
Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro wasn’t so lucky. He’s about to be made into some kind of sacrificial scapegoat, it seems.
The big difference is that Meadows and Navarro made a legitimate attempt to cooperate legally, through their lawyers. Navarro went rogue without counsel and thumbed his nose at the committee every step of the way. The DOJ decided to make an example out of him.
They hope it will terrify others into cooperating. Finding him guilty will be a whole lot harder because they have to prove he actually committed some kind of a crime. That might not actually be possible if he didn’t do anything but that won’t stop the grand inquisition from trying their best.
One of Capitol Hill’s professional leakers told CNN that federal attorney Matt Graves notified Doug Letter, the House general counsel, “that the Justice Department had completed its review.”
The official DOJ assessment was that moving forward on Meadows and Scavino would be politically explosive and soon blow up in their faces. That’s why they decided they “will not be initiating prosecutions for criminal contempt, as requested in the referral against Messrs Meadows and Scavino.”
An effort to cooperate
Both Meadows and Scavino carry heavy political weight in the conservative community. While Navarro ripped his subpoena to shreds and laughed, the story with both Meadows and Scavino was a whole lot more complicated. The DOJ will have an uphill battle with that. They also appear to have the law on their side.
Both held high-level positions in the Trump West Wing. That means their claims of “executive privilege” hold water. They each “made an effort to cooperate with the committee at different points in its investigation.”
Mark Meadows, in particular, the DOJ points out, “notably handed over thousands of pages of documents, including text messages that have become an important part of the committee’s work.” That doesn’t sound a whole lot like contempt.
Scavino’s attorney Stan Brand finally started breathing again and told CNN “I’m grateful they exercised their discretion not to bring this case.”
Peter Navarro remains stunned at his indictment. He suddenly faces two counts of contempt. One for failing to hand over his records and the other for refusing to show up and testify. The DOJ has been under heavy heat to charge someone with something.
He might really have legitimate reasons for not saying a word but the best way to handle this sort of thing is with high priced lawyers. Pinching pennies could cost him a long stretch in prison later.
