A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the convictions of Peter Navarro, a former White House trade adviser, for contempt of Congress stemming from his refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously ruled against Navarro’s argument that his noncompliance was protected by executive privilege.

Navarro, who served as a trade adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term and continued in a similar role during his second term, had sought to block the enforcement of the subpoena by claiming that Trump had shielded him from providing documents to the committee. The court found that Navarro failed to establish that the former president’s invocation of executive privilege was sufficient to avoid compliance with the committee’s demands.

Navarro has already completed a four-month prison sentence after being convicted of contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with the investigation. The House committee’s probe focused on the events leading up to and during the Capitol riot, which involved a mob of Trump supporters breaching the building in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

The ruling affirms the judiciary’s position that executive privilege does not provide absolute protection from congressional subpoenas, especially in the context of investigating the January 6 attack. The decision underscores the balance of powers between the legislative branch’s oversight authority and claims of executive confidentiality.