Peter Navarro, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, was convicted Thursday of contempt of Congress charges after refusing to cooperate with a House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.  

The verdict came after a short trial. Navarro was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges after former White House adviser Steve Banno, who was convicted of two counts and was sentenced to four months behind bars, though he has been free pending appeal.

Judge Amit Mehta scheduled Navarro’s sentencing for Jan. 12, 2024. He was convicted in Washington’s federal courthouse of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, both punishable by up to a year behind bars.

Prosecutors said Navarro acted as if he were ‘above the law’ when he defied a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee. 

A defense attorney argued Navarro didn’t purposely ignore the House Jan. 6 Committee. 

Navarro told reporters that he plans to appeal and that his refusal to cooperate with Congress was on the grounds of executive privilege. 

Navarro defense attorney John Rowley said the case will be decided by the DC Court of Appeals. 

‘This is the first time that a senior presidential aide who has served his president for four years, has ever been held in contempt of Congress,’ he said. 

‘There are legal issues here that need to be decided by the Court of Appeals. Judge made it decided based upon an evidentiary hearing last week, that there was inadequate evidence to show that President Trump had formally instructed Dr. Navarro to invoke executive privilege. Respectfully, we agree with that decision. We think that the evidence established that in fact, President Trump instructed Dr. Navarro to invoke executive privilege.’ 

A judge has ruled the executive privilege argument isn’t a defense against the charges, finding Navarro couldn’t show that Trump had invoked it. But Woodward said prosecutors hadn’t proven that Navarro acted ‘willfully’ or only out of loyalty to Trump.

Prosecutors said Navarro should have handed over what material he could and flagged any questions or documents believed to be protected under executive privilege. They said much of the material the committee sought was already publicly available.

‘Peter Navarro made a choice. He chose not to abide by the congressional subpoena,’ prosecutor Elizabeth Aloi said. ‘The defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over compliance to the subpoena.’

Trump faces a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., and a state indictment in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is urging the Inspector General to launch a federal investigation into whether some government agencies are overpaying remote workers who receive a Washington D.C. salary but live in a lower cost of living state — a problem she says was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remote work spread rapidly as a way to keep some industries afloat during nationwide stay-at-home orders, and government agencies were no exception. However, Ernst said the government is typically inept at keeping track of its workers, leading to ‘an avalanche’ of problems that started years before the pandemic.

After several instances revealed employees were playing golf or soaking in a bubble bath while on the clock, Ernst wants an investigation into whether federal remote workers are meeting specific performance metrics that proves they are actively working during business hours.

‘We’re paying salaries for people that aren’t working, they’re earning benefits and retirement benefits that they don’t deserve,’ Ernst said to Fox News Digital. ‘It’s theft.’

Federal managers told Ernst about several instances where, unbeknownst to the employees, they can see when workers log on and off to their systems. One manager shared that they will see workers log on at the start of the day, and then ‘go dark’ for the remainder of the day.

‘We are doling out how many millions if not billions of dollars in salaries for people that claim to be remote working, but aren’t even actually working, period,’ she said.

An example Ernst cited was a manager overseeing a team responsible for helping veterans schedule appointments at the Atlanta VA Medical Center — which faces one of the lengthiest doctor appointment wait times in the nation — was outed for spending an hour in a bathtub while on duty.

In the manager’s Instagram post, his government-provided laptop was visible, displaying a staff meeting, all while his legs were submerged in the bath.

‘MY OFFICE FOR THE NEXT HR,’ the caption read. 

In a recent letter to Inspector General Diana R. Shaw, Ernst cited an Office of Personnel Management survey which found only one in three federal employees are fully back in the office, while less than one in five ‘never’ report to a physical office.

During a two-month span in the fall of 2022, only five percent of the federal workforce that typically operated from government-leased offices in the Washington, D.C. area physically reported for work on an average day, according to data from the General Services Administration and analyzed by the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

A Government Accountability Office review found that the headquarters of 17 different federal agencies have more than 75 percent of their available office space vacant.

‘We should not be paying for office space that is not being used,’ Ernst said, adding that it’s time for government employees to return to office. 

‘It’s taxpayer money that they are stealing,’ she said. ‘So, we’re gonna figure this out, but I want federal employees to know this is a warning shot to them. They better make it right, or we’re coming after them.’

The Inspector General’s office is expected to have a report back to Ernst by the end of next month, she said. 

Ernst isn’t the only Republican in Congress pushing for federal employees to return to in-person work. In January, the GOP-led House passed the SHOW UP Act, a law that would require civil servant employees to show up to their offices. Twenty-six Republicans co-sponsored it. 

‘The federal workforce needs to get back to work,’ Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, sponsor of the SHOW UP Act, said just before a vote on the House floor. 

‘Federal agencies are falling short on their missions. They are not carrying out their duties. They are failing the American people,’ he said.

One sector of the northern border between the U.S. and Canada has seen more migrant apprehensions in FY 2023 so far than the last 10 years combined, with migrants from 76 countries hitting the often-overlooked border, a top official announced this week.

‘Over 6,100 apprehensions from 76 different countries in just 11 months, surpassing the last 10 years combined,’ Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia tweeted.

The sector, which covers the borders of New York, New Hampshire and Vermont with Canada, saw just over 1,000 Border Patrol apprehensions in all of FY 2022, and just 365 in FY 2021.

‘Swanton Sector Agents are resolute and determined to hold the line across our 295 miles of border in northeastern New York, Vermont & New Hampshire,’ he said.

Across the border as a whole, there have been 7,633 encounters until the end of July this fiscal year, compared to 2,238 for all of FY 2022 and 916 in all of FY 2021.

The numbers are eclipsed by the enormous numbers at the southern border, where there are typically more than 200,000 encounters a month. However, it still forms a considerable challenge for the smaller staffed areas. The border, which is 5,525 miles, only has 115 ports of entry. Garcia had called for volunteers earlier this year as his sector saw spikes, particularly of Mexican migrants with no legal documents.

‘Due to the increased numbers, stations are task saturated with processing large groups, which has contributed to gotaway events, pedestrian and vehicle incursions,’ he said in February.

The Biden administration announced a new border deal with Canada in this spring, meaning that migrants who attempt to cross illegally between ports of entry into either country will be returned. Officials hoped itwould deter illegal migration at the U.S.-Canada border. It updated a 2004 Safe Third County Agreement, which did not deal with illegal immigration.

‘We know that safe, orderly and legal migration is good for all our economies,’ President Biden said, announcing the deal. ‘But we need to halt the dangerous and unlawful ways people are migrating and the dangerous ways. Unlawful migration is not acceptable, and we’ll secure our borders, including through innovative, coordinated actions with our regional partners.’ 

But Republicans in the northern part of the country have continued to sound the alarm over the high numbers of crossings. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., this week blamed the policies of both the administration and New York state for the surge, and called on Democrats and the administration to approve the House border security bill passed earlier this year. 

‘Enough is enough. It is time for Joe Biden to secure our Southern and Northern Border and the quickest way to do that is for Chuck Schumer to pass and Biden to sign into law House Republican’s Secure the Border Act, which is the strongest border security bill in history and would put an end to the Biden border crisis,’ she said.

Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is now a New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate, said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she was ‘thankful for the men and women of the United States Border Patrol for working on the front lines of this dangerous situation.’ 

‘It is clear that we have a serious problem unfolding along our northern border – and the Biden administration is sitting on their hands while dangerous criminals and drugs flow into our state,’ she said.

A new book details how former White House adviser Susan Rice was steamed at Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra for pushing back on an immigration assignment from President Biden.

In journalist Franklin Foer’s new book ‘The Last Politician,’ the Atlantic writer revealed that Becerra attempted to avoid his first assignment when arriving to his post in 2021 — a task that involved HHS taking in additional unaccompanied migrant children from Border Patrol.

Becerra took a phone call with over two dozen White House officials that included then-White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, who called on Becerra to expand the number of migrant children in HHS custody.

The HHS secretary argued that his department required one caregiver per eight children and that the White House’s request would skew the ratio, making the department unable to care for the kids.

Rice pushed back on Becerra, saying that moving more children into HHS custody may not be an ideal situation, but the facilities were better for the children.

Becerra fired back, asking for the request from Biden in writing.

‘I’ll do it if I get a request from the president in writing,’ Becerra said.

The comment reportedly irritated Rice, who responded that Becerra ‘won’t get a request in writing.’

‘That’s not how the President of the United States operates,’ Rice said. ‘He’s given you an order.’

‘I wasn’t there for it,’ Becerra retorted.

‘The rest of us were. You need to deliver,’ Rice responded.

Later that week, while preparing for a meeting with the HHS secretary and other involved advisors, Biden caught wind about the call and was furious.

‘Who am I going to fire in this meeting?’ the president asked.

Foer wrote that the president felt he needed to make it unmistakably clear to Becerra that he was to take the migrant children into HHS custody.

‘I will do what’s requested of me,’ Becerra responded to Biden in the meeting, begrudgingly.

‘It’s good of you to do your job,’ Vice President Kamala Harris told Becerra.

Biden ‘lashed out’ at Becerra in a March 30, 2021 Oval Office meeting when Becerra allegedly failed to have answers for questions about the agency’s ability to take care of migrant kids, according to The New York Times.

The border has been a sore spot for the Biden administration since taking the White House reins in 2021.

Politico reported in 2021 that the White House ‘bristled’ at Becerra’s approach as they pushed HHS to speed up the intake of the tens of thousands of migrant children. Separately, sources told the outlet that he was seen as indecisive and too slow to seize the situation

Becerra, meanwhile, reportedly was frustrated by the White House’s moves to drop immigration restrictions and policies before he was confirmed, the outlet said.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed reporting.