Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he tapped Peter Navarro to serve as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, making him the second person Trump picked for his administration that has served federal prison time.
Navarro, who served as a Trump trade adviser in the first Trump administration, was released from federal prison in July after serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. Navarro—who pushed Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen—both refused to testify and supply documents to the now-defunct House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.
According to a House resolution recommending that Navarro be held in contempt, “Peter K. Navarro, a White House trade advisor, worked with Stephen K. Bannon and others to develop and implement a plan to delay Congress's certification, and ultimately change the outcome, of the November 2020 Presidential election. In November 2021, Mr. Navarro published ‘In Trump Time,’ a book in which he described this plan as the ‘Green Bay Sweep’ and stated that it was designed as the ‘last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats' jaws of deceit.’”
Navarro took pride in his decision to refuse to testify before Congress in the Jan. 6 probe, bragging about it in a speech at the Republican National Convention in July, the same day he was released from prison.
“The J6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused," Navarro said. He added “I went to prison so you won’t have to. I am your wakeup call.”
Trump brought up Navarro’s conviction in a Truth Social post announcing that he is bringing Navarro back to help him implement his destructive tariff plan that will amount to a tax hike on every American.
"I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarro, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing,” Trump wrote. “During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American. He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST."
Navarro is the second convicted felon Trump has picked for his administration.
Over the weekend, Trump tapped Charles Kushner to be ambassador to France. Kushner—who is Ivanka Trump’s father-in-law—was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to filing false tax returns, lying to the Federal Election Commission, and retaliating against a witness. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020, after Trump lost reelection.
And lest we forget, Trump himself is a convicted felon, as he was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments he made to a porn actress who claims to have had an affair with Trump.
Aside from nominating actually convicted criminals to his administration, Trump has also nominated multiple people accused of sexual assault to serve in high-level Cabinet roles. That includes now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz , who had to withdraw his nomination to serve as attorney general because Republicans were uncomfortable with the child sex trafficking allegations Gaetz faces. There is also Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to serve as secretary of defense is in trouble amid allegations of rape and alcohol abuse.
A classy group of individuals, indeed.
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