A top adviser in former President Donald Trump’s White House has been ordered to report to a Miami federal prison on March 19 to serve a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Peter Navarro, who advised Trump on trade issues and worked on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, played a significant and public role in the campaign to keep his boss in power despite his 2020 presidential election loss to now-President Joe Biden. He was found guilty in September on two counts of contempt of Congress, one count for failing to produce documents and another for failing to sit for a deposition.

“Dr. Navarro has now been ordered to report to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, FCI Miami, on or before 2:00PM EDT on March 19, 2024,” Navarro’s lawyers wrote in a court filing late Sunday, pleading to top federal court that they let the 74-year-old stay out of prison pending appeal. The attorneys indicated they would be willing to take their case to the Supreme Court, where Navarro has said publicly he hopes it lands. 

“United States v. Peter Navarro is a landmark constitutional case that will eventually determine whether the constitutional separation of powers is preserved, whether executive privilege will continue to exist as a bulwark against partisan attacks by the legislative branch, and whether executive privilege will remain, as President George Washington pioneered, a critical instrument of effective presidential decision-making,” Navarro wrote on social media on Monday, appealing for donations to pay his legal bills. “That's worth fighting for on behalf of all Americans.”

In their February, 2022, subpoena, the since-dissolved House select committee said they were particularly interested in Navarro’s work with another former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, as well as lawmakers, election officials and Republican Party figures across the country and all levels of government. 

“You… reportedly worked with Steve Bannon and others to develop and implement a plan to delay Congress’ certification of, and ultimately change the outcome of, the November 2020 presidential election,” committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote. The committee demanded documents and communications from Navarro connected to his actions in the months leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, and his public work boosting false claims of voter and election fraud.

Beyond the subpoena-related convictions, Navarro has not been charged or convicted of a crime related to the 2020 election plot. But Trump faces federal charges in Washington and a racketeering trial in Georgia — along with over a dozen co-defendants — for attempting to stay in office and his alleged role in the violence on Jan. 6, 2021. Separately, more than 1,350 people have been charged for crimes connected to the Capitol riot, including 769 who have pleaded guilty and 152 who have been convicted at trial, according to the Department of Justice.

Navarro claimed he couldn’t cooperate with the House probe because Trump invoked executive privilege, shielding him from having to provide evidence and give a depositon on actions taken in service of the then-president. But U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta wrote in a denial of Navarro’s appeal in February that no evidence has been made available that Trump ever actually invoked executive privilege. Even if that were the case, Mehta wrote, Navarro should have informed the committee and may have still been required to provide documents and appear before the committee. But that needed to be decided by a court at the time, the federal judge said. Instead, Navarro just ignored the subpoena until its deadline had passed. 

“Because of his silence then, Defendant cannot now complain that his prosecution was improper because there was no judicial resolution of the privilege claim,” Mehta wrote, while also slapping down Navarro’s claim of political prosecution by pointing to the former White House’s adviser to present any evidence.

“Defendant’s cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a ‘substantial’ one,” the judge added.

In January, Navarro told Fox News’ Sean Hannity his sentence is a preview of the imprisonment of Trump, who faces four criminal prosecutions. He made unfounded claims that his and the president’s cases were politically motivated and orchestrated by Biden to put his top rival behind bars.

“Four months in prison at my age is effectively a death sentence,” Navarro said. “This to me is why you got to elect Donald Trump in 2024 and get him into the Oval [Office].”

“They’re coming after Trump. And if they’re coming after Trump, as he’s said, he’s just in the way — they’ll come after you,” he added.