Trump ex-adviser Peter Navarro to speak at RNC hours after release from prison
Fox News
A top adviser to then-President Trump, Peter Navarro, has been released from a Miami prison and is expected to speak at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night.
Navarro, 75, was convicted after being found in contempt of Congress and was sentenced to four months in a federal prison in Miami in March.
“I will walk proudly in there to do my time,” Navarro said during a press conference before turning himself in. “I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee.”
Navarro is set to speak in the 6 p.m. hour local time in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
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The RNC’s theme Wednesday is “Make America Strong Again.”
Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, was the second Trump aide convicted of a misdemeanor contempt of Congress charge. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon previously received a four-month sentence but was allowed to stay free pending appeal by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump.
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Navarro said he could not cooperate with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack because Trump had invoked executive privilege, an argument that lower courts have rejected.
“When I received that congressional subpoena, the second, I had an honest belief that the privilege had been invoked, and I was torn. Nobody in my position should be put in conflict between the legislative branch and the executive branch. Is that the lesson of this entire proceeding? Get a letter and a lawyer? I think in a way it is,” Navarro said in January.
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“I am disappointed with a process where a jury convicted me, and I was unable to provide a defense, one of the most important elements of our justice system,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.