Ex-Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro said he's feeling "pissed" that he's going to prison, which he reported to Tuesday to begin serving a four-month sentence in Miami for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
“I’m pissed. That’s what I’m feeling right now,” he said. “But I’m also afraid of only one thing. I’m afraid for this country, because this, what they’re doing, should have a chilling effect regardless of their party.”
“They come for me, they can come for you,” Navarro continued.
U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts shot down Navarro’s last-ditch effort to remain free this week when the former Trump adviser sought to appeal his contempt of Congress conviction.
Navarro opened the press conference, held in a parking lot next to the prison, by addressing the reporters in the crowd. He said the “little story” Tuesday is that he is going to prison, but suggested they “might want to report on and even do some research on” two larger stories.
The ex-Trump White House economic adviser suggested the reporters “fact-check” him on an “unprecedented assault on the constitutional separation of powers” and the “partisan weaponization of our justice system” since former President Trump was elected.
“When I walk in that prison today, the justice system, such as it is, will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and the executive privilege,” he said.
Navarro, 74, was convicted last year of two counts of contempt of Congress. One count was for failing to produce documents related to the probe, and another was for skipping his deposition before the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The district judge barred Navarro from using executive privilege as part of his defense.
The former Trump adviser said he doesn’t want Trump to pardon him if he wins reelection this fall, and thinks the Supreme Court will decide his case on its merits.
He criticized President Biden and the Democrats for not granting him a release pending his appeal, which means he will already have done his time before the court would review the appeal.
“But that is the price of living in Joe Biden’s America right now,” Navarro said. “God bless you all. I’ll see you on the other side.”
