Prosecutors say former Trump adviser Peter Navarro ‘acted as if he is above the law’ as trial begins

The contempt of Congress trial against Peter Navarro started in earnest Wednesday morning, with dueling opening statements from prosecutors and the defense.

The former White House trade adviser “acted as if he was above the law,” Justice Department attorney John Crabb told the jury. “But he is not above the law. No one is.”

Navarro’s attorney countered that prosecutors’ case is like a movie that doesn’t live up to the trailer.

“Why open their case with a history of George Washington to Adams to Obama to Trump?” Navarro attorney Stanley Woodward told the jury, referencing a part of the prosecutors’ opening statement that discussed the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

“This trailer is like one of those movies where you get nothing after the preview,” Woodward said.

The trial is expected to be a short one, and already the proceedings have moved briskly. Just a handful of witnesses are expected to take the stand and it’s possible the case will go to jury deliberations by the end of Wednesday.

While previewing what would be a “simple case” for the jury, Crabb said in the government’s opening statement that it was an “important” one.

The United States was a “nation of laws,” Crabb said, and “our system doesn’t work” if people think they are above the law or don’t comply with it.

Crabb walked the jury through the highlights of evidence that, he said, will show that Navarro ignored a February 2022 subpoena issued by the House select committee tasked with investigating the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.

“Congress had information that Mr. Navarro had communications and documents, and perhaps knew things about why the attack on the Capitol happened,” Crabb said.

“Why did Congress think this? Because Mr. Navarro said so,”…