Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, some House Republicans plan to haul the head of the federal prison system into a hearing to explain why she’s blocking access for jailed former Trump aide Peter Navarro.
Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, posted on X about the upcoming hearing on Thursday, noting that he, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs issued a letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters to explain her actions.
The lawmakers directed Peters to appear before the House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance on June 13.
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The letter came three days after Gaetz commented about being denied access to Navarro, who served as a trade adviser to former President Donald Trump.
As the Tampa Free Press reported on Tuesday, Gaetz said in a House floor speech on Monday that Peters denied his request to interview Navarro, who is now serving a four-month sentence in a federal prison in Miami, because the defendant is “too notorious.”
“John Gotti was interviewed while he was in prison,” Gaetz noted. “The QAnon Shaman was interviewed in prison. Director Peters herself brought NBC News through prisons to showcase the work of corrections that’s being done!”
Gaetz also claimed that Navarro is being denied access to his lawyer.
Read: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz Argues Treatment Of Former Trump Aide Vindicates Political Prisoner Claim
“I think it is shameful what has been done to Peter Navarro, based on a sham January 6 committee and a sham indictment and a sham conviction,” said Gaetz. “The actions of the Federal Bureau of Prisons … seem to be vindicating the claim made by Peter Navarro that he is being held as a political prisoner.”
In their letter to Peters, Gaetz, Jordan and Biggs noted, “Your refusal to allow a Member of Congress to meet with Dr. Navarro — in addition to BOP’s efforts to prevent Mr. Galanis from speaking to Congress — raise serious questions about the politicization of BOP.”
In that part of the letter, “Galanis” refers to Jason Galanis, a former business associate of Hunter Biden’s who is currently serving a 14-year federal prison sentence for defrauding an American Indian tribe.
Galanis is a witness to a 2014 phone call between then-Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter and a pair of billionaire Russian oligarchs, Yelena Baturina and Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The New York Post has reported that Baturina dined with Joe and Hunter more than once and that she and Yevtushenkov sent millions of dollars to the Bidens or their companies for unspecified reasons.
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As House Republicans seek answers about those transactions, Galanis maintains that the Justice Department is mistreating him in an Alabama prison as retribution for being a possible witness in both criminal and impeachment proceedings against Joe.
As for Navarro, as the Free Press reported this week, an Obama-appointed judge sentenced him to four months in prison and a $9,500 fine in January for refusing to cooperate with a subpoena issued by the Democrats’ special committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Navarro was convicted in September of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a J6 committee subpoena to turn over documents and sit for a deposition. Navarro labeled the committee, which was handpicked by Democratic former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a “kangaroo court.”
On X on Thursday, someone posting to Navarro’s account praised Gaetz, Jordan, and Biggs as “FEARLESS patriots fighting on behalf of Dr. Navarro’s and all political prisoners’ constitutional rights!!”
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