WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White residence exchange adviser Peter Navarro has refused to comply with a subpoena for files regarding the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus, announcing the previous president ordered him now not to, in response to his response to a congressional request released on Saturday.
The subpoena become issued in November with the aid of the house opt for Subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis as a part of its probe of even if former Trump administration officers mishandled the federal response to the pandemic by way of interfering with its own health company's work. nearly 800,000 people have died within the u.s. from the pandemic.
Navarro, a Republican, also served as certainly one of former President Donald Trump's pandemic response advisers and was accountable for procurement in the coronavirus response, among different things. Navarro stated in a letter to the subcommittee he would not cooperate as a result of Trump advised him to "offer protection to government privilege."
"it's a direct order that I should still no longer comply with the subpoena," Navarro observed in a letter to the committee, a copy of which became considered with the aid of Reuters.
consultant James Clyburn, a Democrat and chairman of the coronavirus disaster panel, said in a letter to Navarro that he had no legitimate groundwork for refusing to comply and that he had waived any privilege via writing about conversations with Trump on the coronavirus response.
The refusal is "specifically indefensible for the reason that you disclosed many details about your work within the White apartment, including details of conversations with the previous President about the pandemic response, in your recent e-book and related press tour," Clyburn talked about in the letter.
Navarro couldn't be instantly reached for a response to Clyburn's letter.
Clyburn talked about the subcommittee expects Navarro to supply all records and tips in his possession and appear for a deposition on Dec. 15, as the subpoena requires.
Clyburn stated when the subpoena became issued that "rather than enforce a coordinated national strategy to alleviate critical supply shortages, Mr. Navarro and other Trump Administration officers pushed accountability to the states and pursued a haphazard and ineffective approach to procurement -- contributing to severe shortages of critically necessary substances and placing American lives in danger."
(Reporting through Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner; modifying by way of Dan Grebler)
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