Congress disregarded:

Ex-Trump adviser starts four-month prison sentence

Former economic advisor to former US President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, began a four-month prison sentence on Tuesday.(Bild: AFP/Chandan Khanna)

Peter Navarro, former economic adviser to ex-US President Donald Trump, has started a four-month prison sentence. On Tuesday, the 74-year-old reported to a prison in Miami in the US state of Florida, according to US media reports.

A request by Navarro to the Supreme Court to prevent him from entering prison for the time being in view of ongoing appeal proceedings failed on Monday. A jury had found him guilty of contempt of US Congress last September.

Refused to testify before subcommittee
Navarro had refused to hand over documents and testify before a House of Representatives investigative committee on the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. He argued that he had not complied with the subpoena because Trump had instructed him to say that he was exempt due to the government's right to secrecy. He also repeated this statement at a press conference (pictured below) on Tuesday shortly before his arrest.

(Bild: Associated Press)

Before Navarro, Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon had already been sentenced to four months in prison. However, he also lodged an appeal and initially remained at large. This makes Navarro the first close Trump confidant to actually serve a prison sentence in the context of the Capitol storm.

Trump faces decades in prison
Trump himself has also been charged over the events in Washington. If convicted, the 77-year-old faces decades in prison. In the middle of the election year, the Republican is facing a total of four criminal proceedings. However, he has managed to use legal dodges to delay several of these trials against him, including the one in the US capital.

Navarro had refused to hand over documents and testify before a House of Representatives investigative committee on the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.(Bild: AFP/Chandan Khanna)

Trump's supporters had stormed the seat of parliament there on January 6, 2021. At the time, Congress formally confirmed the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election. Trump riled up his supporters in a speech by claiming that he had been deprived of his election victory through massive fraud.

Defeat against Biden not recognized
Five people died as a result of the riots. To this day, Trump does not recognize his defeat against Biden. He wants to move back into the White House after the presidential election in November.