Trump White House official Peter Navarro has appealed to the Supreme Court to allow him to stay out of prison as he appeals against his contempt of Congress conviction.
Navarro is due to report to a federal prison next week, after an appeals court ruled that his appeal was not likely to overturn his conviction for refusing to co-operate with a congressional investigation into the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Navarro has maintained that he could not co-operate with the committee because former president Donald Trump had invoked executive privilege.
US district judge Amit Mehta, who was appointed by former president Barack Obama, barred him from making that argument at trial, finding that he did not show Mr Trump had actually invoked it.
The emergency application comes as the Supreme Court separately prepares to hear arguments on whether Mr Trump himself has presidential immunity from charges alleging he interfered in the 2020 election.
Navarro was the second Trump aide convicted of misdemeanour contempt of Congress charges. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four-month sentence but was allowed to stay free pending appeal by US district judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Mr Trump.
Navarro was found guilty of defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Janury 6 committee and sentenced to four months in prison.
He served as a White House trade adviser under then-president Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
