The two men became the last close-knit members of former US President Donald Trump to face legal risk as the selection committee continues its nine-month investigation into the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years.
The quasi-partisan vote 220-203 will send the criminal referrals for Navarro and Scavino to the Ministry of Justice for possible prosecution.
The act of contempt followed hours of brutal debate in Parliament, as Republicans sided with Trump and accused Democrats of trying to politicize the Capitol attack by his supporters.
House Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy accused the Jan. 6 committee of “criminalizing dissent,” defended Scavino as a “good man,” and harshly criticized members of the committee, some by name.  “Let’s be honest, this is a spectacular political trial,” McCarthy said.
Maryland Democrat Jamie Ruskin, among the nine members of the Jan. 6 panel, noted that the committee has two Republicans, including Liz Cheney of Wyoming.  He added that the purpose of the vote was to make it clear that “open contempt and ridicule for this process and for the rule of law” would not be allowed in the Chamber.
“I mean, it’s just amazing that they think they can get away with it,” the three-term lawmaker told reporters about Scavino and Navarro as the debate raged on Wednesday.
Cheney and Illinois lawmaker Adam Kinzinger, who is also on the selection committee, were the only Republicans to vote in favor of the hate speech.
While the pursuit of contempt charges may not yield new information for the Jan. 6 commission – any prosecution could last for months or years – Wednesday’s vote was the latest attempt to show that witnesses will suffer if they do not cooperate. or at least appear for questioning.  Everything is part of an effort to regain the legislature that was eroded during the Trump era, when congressional summonses were often violated and ignored.
“This vote will reveal who is willing to show tolerance for the unbearable,” Maryland-based majority leader Stanny Hoyer said on the floor, addressing Republicans across the aisle.
Ruskin and other Democrats have argued that Scavino and Navarro are among the few who have rejected the commission’s requests and calls for information.  The commission has interviewed more than 800 witnesses so far.
Scavino “refused to testify before Congress about what he knew of the most dangerous and sweeping attack on the US Congress since the war of 1812,” Raskin said.
The commission says Scavino helped spread Trump’s false allegations of stolen elections and was with him on the day of the Capitol attack.  As a result, he may have “videotaping and tweeting material” of his messages that day.
A Scavino lawyer did not respond to numerous messages from the Associated Press for comment.
Navarro, 72, a former White House trade adviser, was summoned in early February for promoting false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election, which the commission believes led to the attack.
Navarro mentioned the executive privilege when he refused to testify, saying the commission “should negotiate this issue with President Trump.”  He added: “If he relinquishes the privilege, I will be happy to comply.”
However, the Biden government has already waived executive powers for Navarro, Scavino and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying it was not justified or in the national interest to refuse their testimony.
Executive privilege was developed to protect a president’s ability to receive honest advice from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure, but it has its limits.  The courts have traditionally left questions about whether to invoke executive privileges on the current White House resident.  The Supreme Court earlier this year rejected an attempt by Trump to withhold documents from the commission.
The vote on Wednesday will be the third time the panel has sent accusations of contempt to Parliament.  The first two referrals, sent late last year, concerned former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Trump ally Steve Bannon.
The allegation of contempt for Bannon ended in prosecution, with a trial set to begin in July.  The Justice Department was slow to decide whether to prosecute Mendous, much to the dismay of the commission.
“The committee’s hope is that it will be presented to a large jury,” spokesman Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, told reporters on Tuesday.  “Obviously, the Meadows case is still pending. We do not really know where it is, except that we have done our job.”
He added: “The firewall is rising from our point of view and the DOJ is using its systems to get it from there.”
Lawmakers interview dozens of people a week as they approach public hearings in late spring.  Last week alone, the commission interviewed Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kouchner.  Both were key White House advisers who had substantial access to the former president.
Thompson suggested that more witnesses could be despised in the coming weeks, even as the commission tries to complete its investigative work over the next two months.
Conviction for contempt of Congress carries a fine of up to $ 100,000 and up to one year in prison.
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Associated Press author Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.