Peter Navarro, a former top trade adviser to then-President Donald Trump, is scheduled to be released from a federal prison in Miami and will speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to sources familiar with the RNC’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press, Navarro’s appearance is set for the convention, which runs from Monday to Thursday. Navarro’s conviction for defying a Jan. 6 Committee subpoena has been condemned by his supporters as political persecution and described as a “death sentence.”
Navarro is set to be released from prison on Wednesday, allowing him just enough time to fly to Milwaukee and speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) before it wraps up on Thursday. His exact speaking slot has not been disclosed, as reported by the AP. The RNC has yet to respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding this scheduling.
“Lawfare is real. Lawfare is wrong … We’re not supposed to act like Communist China or a Banana Republic. But that’s the growing perception of our justice system,” Navarro previously told the Daily Caller. “I’m in prison not for any crime but rather as a matter of honor and duty for defending the constitutional separation of powers.”
Navarro’s legal troubles arose from his refusal to comply with a Jan. 6 Committee subpoena, where he claimed executive privilege as a reason not to testify or submit documents. Similarly, former White House adviser Steve Bannon faced legal consequences for his non-compliance with a related subpoena in the Jan. 6 investigation. Bannon was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison, which he is currently serving.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had argued that Navarro should face more time, recommending six months in jail and paying a $200,000 fine as opposed to the four months and $9,500 fine of his final sentence. Prosecutors said Navarro “exacerbated” the “assault” on the rule of law by refusing to comply with the subpoena, saying his “defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment,” according to court filings. He was arrested by FBI agents in June 2022 at Ronald Reagan National Airport and charged in the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C.
Recently, the GOP-led House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio recordings of President Joe Biden made by former special counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into the president’s illegal retention of classified documents. But DOJ officials refused to act on the subpoena, citing Garland’s claim of “executive privilege”—the same claim that Navarro and Bannon made.
Navarro said that he was not staying in some “Club Fed” like many believe. “It’s a dangerous place health-wise. The low-protein, high-carb, no-fresh-vegetable diet exacerbates problems like diabetes, colon cancer, and heart disease. I’m fortunate I don’t take any medicines, because prescription drugs are in short supply at the daily ‘pill line,’ and a lot of inmates needlessly suffer from symptoms that their prescription drugs would otherwise ameliorate. I’m among about 200 inmates in close dorm quarters — a new strain of COVID hit a few weeks ago and spread like wildfire,” Navarro told the Daily Caller recently.
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