In court documents, the Department of Justice provided no explanation for the dismissal.
The Justice Department has continued its trend of protecting Trump administration officials, this time by requesting that a lawsuit filed against White House trade adviser Peter Navarro be dismissed.
According to CNN, the lawsuit was filed under the Biden administration in 2022. It alleges that, during Donald Trump’s first term, Navarro repeatedly used an unofficial email account to conduct government work. Government attorneys had, at the time, also accused Navarro of wrongfully retaining presidential records.
“While serving in the White House, Mr. Navarro used at least one non-official email account—an account hosted by the non-official service ProtonMail—to send and receive messages constituting Presidential records,” the 2022 lawsuit said. “Mr. Navarro did not copy each email or message constituting Presidential records that was sent or received on his non-official account or accounts to his official government email account.”
“Following the end of the Trump administration … the General Counsel of the [National Archives and Records Administration] attempted to contact Mr. Navarro to secure the Presidential records that Mr. Navarro had not copied to his government email account,” the lawsuit claimed. “Mr. Navarro did not respond to NARA’s communications.”
The original lawsuit also asserted that the Department of Justice had made repeated attempts to “secure the Presidential records that Mr. Navarro had not copied to his government email account. Discussions … ultimately proved unsuccessful.”
The Department of Justice alleges that Navarro also attempted to leverage his possession of presidential records by stating that he would only comply with NARA’s requests if issued “a grant of immunity for the act of retaining such documents.”
In court documents, the Department of Justice provided no explanation for the dismissal.
Instead, the motion for dismissal simply states that each party shall be responsible for their own legal fees and costs.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1(A)(ii) [sic], the parties hereby stipulate to the dismissal of this action with prejudice, each side to bear its own fees and costs,” said the filing.
The filing was submitted the day before U.S. Magistrate G. Michael Harvey was scheduled to hold a hearing on the case’s status and progression.
Navarro, notes The Associated Press, served as a trade adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. Known for his outspoken position on trade with China, he is currently serving as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing for the White House.
Sources
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Justice Department drops lawsuit against Trump adviser Peter Navarro
Justice Department drops lawsuit against Trump adviser Peter Navarro
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