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April 6 (UPI) -- The House voted Wednesday to find two former Trump White House staffers in criminal contempt of Congress for not cooperating with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino refused to obey subpoenas from the committee to testify and produce documents related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The vote to recommend contempt charges fell mostly along party lines, 220-203.
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Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a speech that Navarro and Scavino showed "open disregard and scorn for the rule of law, Congress and representatives of the American people."
"They have blown us off completely. Neither Mr. Scavino nor Mr. Navarro has produced a single document or offered one minute of testimony in response to the subpoenas sent by the House of Representatives," Raskin said.
The committee voted March 27 to hold the two former Trump aides in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with the lawful subpoenas.
Following Wednesday's vote, criminal contempt charges will be referred to the Justice Department for review and possible prosecution. Navarro and Scavino could face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 if found guilty.
In a recent report, the committee said there is reason to believe that Navarro, a former top trade adviser to former President Donald Trump, worked to "develop and implement a plan to delay Congress' certification and ultimately change the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election."
Regarding Scavino, the committee said he worked with Trump in a "campaign to reverse the election results." Those efforts allegedly included spreading false information via social media about election fraud and helping recruit a crowd to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
The House Jan. 6 select committee said in a report that they have reason to believe that Scavino "may have had advance warning about the potential for violence on January 6."
