Trump’s ex-aide, Peter Navarro, released from federal prison

Donald Trump’s former White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, was released from a Florida prison on Wednesday after serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Navarro, 75, is expected to travel from Miami, where he was incarcerated in a federal prison, to Milwaukee to address the Republican National Convention. He is listed as one of the speakers at the gathering.

Navarro is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former Republican president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt in September for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist, was the architect of the “Green Bay Sweep,” a plot to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

Navarro refused to appear for a deposition before the House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6 attack on Congress and declined to supply documents to the panel.

He was convicted of contempt by a federal jury in Washington after a two-day trial and claimed to be a victim of “partisan weaponization of our justice system.”

Navarro was the second close Trump ally to be convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House committee.

Steve Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was also found guilty of contempt of Congress.

Bannon was sentenced to four months behind bars and began serving his sentence on July 1 at a federal prison in Connecticut.

Trump was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

His trial was put on hold, however, until the Supreme Court heard Trump’s claim that as a former president, he is immune from criminal prosecution.

The court ruled earlier this month that a former president has broad immunity and Trump’s trial is unlikely to be held before the November election, if ever.

Trump, 78, was impeached for a second time by the House after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate.

AFP