Peter Navarro
(Photo : Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Peter Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress last year and is serving time in a federal prison in Miami.

Donald Trump's former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has filed an "emergency" motion to be released from prison because he claims he's not allowed to speak to the press or to Florida Republican Rep. Matt Goetz.

The motiion, filed Thursday, has now sparked a probe by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee.

The committee has sent a letter to the Bureau of Prisons warning that the contraints on Navarro "raise serious concerns about the politicization" of the bureau, and requested testimony before the Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee next month, CBS News journalist Scott McFarlane reported.

Navarro is serving four months behind bars in a Miami federal prison for contempt of Congress, ironically for ignoring a subpoena from the House to answer questions about Republican pressure on former Vice President Mike Pence to toss out electoral votes certifying Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Navarro battled the conviction, and then fought to block a prison term — and then for early release. He had filed an earlier emergency motion before the U.S. Supreme Court last year to hold up his sentence.

Navarro's "term of imprisonment has been marred by the same political turmoil that gave rise to his prosecution," claimed his latest motion.

"He has been denied the opportunity to speak both with the press as well as with a Member of Congress," the document added.

The motion claimed that when the director of the Bureau of Prisons was asked why a sitting member of Congress couldn't speak to Navarro, he was told that the former White House official was too "'notorious' to be interviewed." That claim could not immediately be confirmed with the Bureau of Prisons.

Navarro was mocked on social media for his shock that his activities or which people he can talk to could be constrained while he's serving time in prison for committing a crime.

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