Justice Department drops lawsuit against Trump adviser Peter Navarro

Key Points

• The Justice Department has dropped its 2022 civil lawsuit accusing Peter Navarro of using an unofficial ProtonMail account for government business and wrongfully retaining presidential records.
• The one-page joint filing gives no explanation for the dismissal and stipulates that each side will bear its own fees and costs.
• The civil case paralleled Navarro’s recent criminal indictment and misdemeanor conviction for contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation, for which he served four months in prison.
• Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser and is a longtime China trade critic, has been named senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in a prospective second Trump administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is dropping a lawsuit that it filed against White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, a case in which he was accused of using an unofficial email account for government work and wrongfully retaining presidential records during the first Trump administration, according to a Tuesday court filing.

The joint filing by the Justice Department and an attorney for Navarro doesn't explain why they are abandoning a case that was filed in 2022, during President Joe Biden's term in office. The one-page filing says each side will bear their own fees and costs.

The lawsuit accused Navarro of using at least one “non-official” email account — a ProtonMail account — to send and receive emails. The legal action comes just weeks after Navarro was indicted on criminal charges after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Navarro served a four-month prison sentence after being found guilty of misdemeanor charges.

The civil cases alleges that by using the unofficial email account, Navarro failed to turn over presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The government notified the court of the lawsuit's dismissal a day before U.S. Magistrate G. Michael Harvey was scheduled to preside over a status conference for the case.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. A lawyer for Navarro didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Navarro served as a trade adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term. A longtime critic of trade arrangements with China, he has been named senior counselor for trade and manufacturing for Trump's second administration.