Peter Navarro, economist and former director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing in the Trump Administration, was released from federal prison, where he had served a four-month sentence for refusing a congressional subpoena.
Just hours after his release from a Miami prison, he was greeted with thunderous applause and cheering at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Navarro had refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, which Democrats have described as an insurrection.
After a huge ovation that went on for minutes, Navarro addressed the Convention: “It’s a beautiful thing….I think you folks just want to know if you can see my MAGA tattoo that I got there…” The crowd exploded in laughter. “Yes, indeed, this morning I did walk out of a federal prison in Miami. Joe Biden and his Department of Injustice put me there. Tonight I’m here with you in this beautiful city of Milwaukee and I’ve got a very simple message for you:
“If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful, they will come for you,” he said. “If we don’t control our government, their government will control us. If we don’t control all three branches of our government, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary, their government will put some of us like me and Steve Bannon in prison.”
He then recounted the events that led up to his imprisonment. “The legislative branch came for me first, your favorite Democrat [former Speaker] Nancy Pelosi created your favorite committee, the sham January 6 committee, which demanded that I violate executive privilege. What did I do? I refused. The J-6 Committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin and I refused.”
Navarro continued, “Here’s the thing about the Constitution — they demanded that I break the law because they had no respect for it. I refused. And a Democrat majority in the House voted to hold me in contempt. What happened next? The next jackboot to drop was the executive branch, another one of your favorite Democrats — Democrat Attorney General Merrick Garland. Him and Jack Smith indicted and prosecuted me for criminal contempt of Congress. It’s something the Democrat prosecutors refused to do against one of their own, including two guys with blood on their hands — Eric Holder and Alejandro Mayorkas, the great ‘border czar,’ right? They’ve actually gotten people killed.”
Navarro continued to tell his personal experience with the January 6 Committee and the Democrat-controlled House.
Steve Bannon reported to prison on July 1 for defying the J-6 committee; he is serving a four-month sentence.