From prison to primetime: Trump ally Peter Navarro will speak to the RNC

Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY
·2 min read
4

After Peter Navarro's release from the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami Wednesday, he is headed to the Republican National Convention, where he is scheduled to speak.

The former advisor to then-President Donald Trump spent four months behind bars after being convicted of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for defying congressional subpoenas related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Navarro's warm embrace by Trump and the Republican Party reflects Trump and the GOP's growing support for criminal defendants accused and convicted of crimes related to Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has increasingly referred publicly to those incarcerated for Jan. 6-related crimes as "hostages" and pledged in March to free them as one of his first acts as president. At campaign rallies this year, he played a recording of the "Star-Spangled Banner" made by some of those people, whom he has termed the "J6 Prison Choir."

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack subpoenaed Navarro after he described the attempt to delay the Jan. 6 certification of President Joe Biden's election in his 2021 book, “In Trump Time: A Journal of America’s Plague Year.”

Navarro said in that book that the delay effort was the "last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit." Claims by Trump and his allies of 2020 voter fraud that would have changed the election results have been repeatedly disproved, and dozens of election challenges from Trump and his allies were rejected by courts.

Peter Navarro, who served as then-President Donald Trump's trade adviser, talks to the media before turning himself in at a federal correctional institution to begin his prison sentence for defying a subpoena from a panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Miami, Florida, on March 19, 2024.
Peter Navarro, who served as then-President Donald Trump's trade adviser, talks to the media before turning himself in at a federal correctional institution to begin his prison sentence for defying a subpoena from a panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Miami, Florida, on March 19, 2024.

Navarro described former Vice President Mike Pence – who refused to go along with the Jan. 6 certification delay strategy, as Brutus – referring to a Roman who was once close to Julius Caesar but helped assassinate him.

Navarro tried to argue that executive privilege meant he couldn't testify or provide documents to the House committee because relevant communications were confidential.

However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta concluded there wasn't evidence Trump has asserted executive privilege at that time and, even if he had, Navarro would have needed to show up before the committee to refuse to answer questions.

Other Trump allies slated to speak on the third day of the convention include Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and Trump's oldest child, Donald Trump Jr. Vance has supported Trump's claims that there were problems with the 2020 election and said he would not have certified President Biden's victory, as Vice President Mike Pence did.

Steve Bannon, another Trump ally who was handed a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a Jan. 6-related congressional subpoena, reported to federal prison July 1. Bannon told associates in October of 2020 that Trump would falsely claim election victory even if he lost the following month. On Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the attack, Bannon called Trump twice.

Contributing: Karissa Waddick, Bart Jansen, and Zac Anderson, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump ally Peter Navarro walks out of prison and into spotlight at RNC

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