Trump Appoints Peter Navarro, Who Served Prison Time, As Counselor
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Donald J. Trump appointed Peter Navarro, his former adviser who served prison time for “refusing” to cooperate with a congressional investigation, as his senior counselor.
Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that Navarro helped with his first-term “Buy American, Hire American” mission and “moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST.”
Navarro, described by analyses as “a prominent China hawk,” was a key White House adviser in Washington’s trade confrontations with Beijing during Trump’s first presidency.
Over that period, the U.S. moved away from striking new trade deals to expand business abroad and instead focused on measures to bring back manufacturing and protect American workers.
“During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American,” Trump noted Wednesday.
“He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like Nafta and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST….”
In his new post, Trump stresses that Navarro’s mission “will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.”
TOUGH QUESTIONS
Yet opponents were due to ask tough questions about Navarro, who served four months in prison after being convicted of “contempt of Congress.”
He ignored a subpoena from the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol building.
Navarro reportedly claimed credit for a plan to overturn the announced 2020 election results. Trump maintains the elections were unfair.
During the 2023 trial, prosecutors said Navarro “chose allegiance” to Trump over complying with the subpoena from lawmakers. Navarro’s attorneys argued the state had not proven the trade adviser “willfully” ignored the subpoena.
Even after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Navarro remained a loyal public defender of Trump as he continued to claim that the results of the vote had been rigged and victory stolen from him.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote that Navarro had been “horribly treated by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it.”
Another Trump nominee facing controversy is for proposed secretary of defense, former Fox News broadcaster’s weekend anchor Pete Hegseth.
He continues to be dogged by allegations about his past, including heavy drinking and sexual assault charges that he denies.
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