© KEYSTONE/AP/JOHN MINCHILLO
The US House of Inquiry into the Capitol assault ruled on Wednesday in favor of criminal charges against two relatives of former US President Donald Trump for refusing to testify. Their case was forwarded to federal prosecutors.
The latter will have to decide whether or not to charge Dan Scavino, in charge of Donald Trump’s social networks when he was in the White House, and Peter Navarro, the former president’s economic adviser, with “attempting to obstruct a congressional investigation.
Neither of them agreed to testify before the House committee tasked with shedding light on the Capitol storming, when thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the seat of the US Congress in an attempt to prevent elected officials from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Two other advisers targeted
Mr. Scavino is suspected of having been with Donald Trump on January 5, 2021, the day before this attack, and of having attended a discussion on how to convince members of congress not to go through with this certification.
Peter Navarro, on the other hand, “did not hide his role in the maneuvers to overturn the results of the 2020 election and even mentioned the former president’s support for these projects,” he said. Democrat Bennie Thompson, leader of the parliamentary inquiry.
This parliamentary committee, with a Democratic majority, has already recommended prosecutions against Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and a former adviser to the Republican billionaire, Steve Bannon, for their refusal to testify.
She hopes to release her findings before the November legislative election, when Republicans could regain control of the chamber and bury her work.