Peter Navarro: Getting a Deserved Day in Court
San Diego's Five-Time Loser Waves a Middle Finger at Congress
There are a fair share of cringe-worthy politicians in San Diego’s history, but few have achieved global fame for being simply awful human beings.
Peter Navarro rose above the local muck during the Trump administration. And now that ol’ what's-his-face is out of office, he’s fighting hard to maintain his status.
A federal grand jury has charged the former presidential trade advisor with one count involving a refusal to appear for a deposition before the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6 and another for his refusal to produce documents in response to a subpoena.
He was arrested at a DC airport in early June as he tried to depart on a trip to Nashville and New York. Navarro went before TV cameras shortly thereafter accusing the Justice Department of “prosecutorial misconduct.”.
He said federal authorities could have arrested him while he was at home, and had previously provided the DOJ with the phone number of a lawyer they should contact if needed.
If there’s one thing you need to know about Peter Navarro, it’s that he thinks he’s one of the smartest people in the world. That’s why he told the press after arraignment that he would represent himself. Apparently that aforementioned lawyer wasn’t available; or maybe he was just bluffing to enable grift.
From Mark Barabak at the Los Angeles Times:
Lately, however, the armchair mutineer has been reduced to mewling on Fox News and other Trumpaganda media outlets about his treatment by the justice system he sought to subvert — “Who are these people? This is not America” — and grifting appeals for money to help bail him out of his legal jam.
“This is going to cost half a million dollars, from what I’m being told,” he moaned. “I’ll be eating dog food if I stay out of jail.”
In any case, Navarro now has lawyers.
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A Justice Department court filing this week gives additional insight on how FBI agents were greeted as they attempted to interview him at his home (days before arrest).
From the New York Post:
To avoid a “media circus,” the agents stopped Navarro “in a discrete location at the jet-bridge at the airport” and removed him to be booked “all out of sight of the public,” the DOJ said.
Following his initial court appearance, Navarro, a Trump loyalist, told reporters that agents had “put me in leg irons” and made a point of keeping him a cell that once held John Hinckley Jr., the attempted assassin of former President Ronald Reagan.
“They seemed to think that that was like an important historical note,” Navarro said at the time. “That’s punitive. What they did to me today violated the Constitution.”
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to go to trial in November.
Navarro ran unsuccessfully for office in San Diego, California, five times. In 1992, he ran for mayor on a no-growth platform, finishing first in the primary, but losing to Susan Golding in the runoff. In 1993, he ran for a city council seat, in 1994 for board of supervisors, losing each time.
In 1996, he upped his game, running as an environmental activist Democrat for the 49th Congressional District, losing to Republican Brian Bilbray. A special election in 2001 afforded Navarro the opportunity to fill the District 6 San Diego city council seat, but he was only able to attract 7.85% of the vote.
Politico chronicled Navarro’s transition from also-ran to Trumpster:
Back then, they recall, Navarro’s temper and ego often proved to be his undoing in campaigns where he literally stood alongside Hillary Clinton, railed against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the personification of political evil and positioned himself as a “strong environmentalist and a progressive on social issues such as choice, gay rights, and religious freedom.’’
Larry Remer, a veteran Democratic political consultant who ran two of Navarro’s campaigns, describes his former client as “the biggest asshole I’ve ever known.’’
In San Diego, Navarro “came on the scene as a disruptive force...as a force of destruction from the progressive left,’’ says Remer. As the founder of a no-growth group called Prevent Los Angelization Now, “he tapped into something that was very strong.’’
Although holding various titles in the White House, the important thing to know about Navarro is that willing to go in front of TV cameras and support the administration no matter what the optics.
His feud with infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci over the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus contributed to his reputation as a pit bull useful for political attacks.
The United States Office of Special Counsel ruled in December 2020 that Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by using his official capacity to influence elections in speaking against Trump's opponent Joe Biden during the presidential campaign..
Once the voting was over, Navarro was part of the coterie, including Steve Bannon, who coordinated an effort called "The Green Bay Sweep", with more than 100 Republican state legislators to overturn the election.
His special report alleging widespread election fraud, published in December 2020, was later discovered to have been written by staffers in his office beginning two weeks before the election.
It was cited by the former President on December 19 as a reason why people should come to Washington DC on January 6:
Peter Navarro releases 36-page report alleging election fraud 'more than sufficient' to swing victory to Trump https://t.co/D8KrMHnFdK . A great report by Peter. Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!
The Washington Post called the 36 page document the “most embarrassing document created by a White House staffer.”
“From Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic and John Solomon’s Just the News to Raheem Kassam’s National Pulse, to Newsmax, and One America News Network,” Navarro writes, “Americans hungry for facts and breaking developments have been able to find such critical information only by following this alternative coverage.”
Put another way, Americans seeking dubious or debunked information are only able to find it from outlets willing to publish and air dubious and debunked information.
On January 2, 2021, Navarro, along with Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, participated in a call with Georgia election officials in which Trump urged them to overturn the results of the election.
It’s no wonder the January 6 Select Committee wants to speak with him.
Getting busted hasn’t dulled his urge to defend his former boss. On August 3, 2022, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit demanding that Navarro turn over emails from a private phone account that he used to conduct White House business.
The suit alleges that he has not responded to requests from the National Archives for those records and that he has demanded a grant of immunity before he will release them.
Email me at: WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com