Walking out on stage to a deafening, standing ovation on Wednesday, July 17, Trump’s economic advisor and ally Peter Navarro gave a thundering, powerful speech about his issues with the justice system in America just hours after he was released from federal prison. Navarro’s charges were contempt of Congress charges stemming from his refusal to work with the January 6 Committee.
In his speech, Navarro focused on the view of many on the right that the justice system has been weaponized against them. He said, on that point, “If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, they can come for you. If we don’t control our government, their government will control us.” He added, on that same point, but later in his speech, “I went to prison so you don’t have to.”
He also spoke about the January 6 committee, Nancy Pelosi’s involvement in it, and his refusal to violate Trump’s executive privilege and trust in him, saying, “Your favorite Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, created your favorite committee, the sham Jan 6 committee, which demanded that I violate executive privilege. What did I do? I refused.”
He added, on that same point, that the committee wanted him to betray his friend and ally but that he refused to do so, and that it was for that that he was convicted, saying, “The January 6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused. And the Democratic majority in the House then voted to hold me in contempt.”
Ending his speech by calling his fiancée to join him on the stage, in front of the adoring and applauding crowd, Navarro said, : “This is my beautiful girl. She did the time with me.” He added, speaking about the upcoming election, “Now here’s the sweetest thing that’s going to come off my lips: Vote Trump-Vance ’24 for Trump 47.”
Watch him here:
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But it wasn’t all fire and vinegar from Navarro, he also spoke about unity, saying, “To win the election, we have to unite not just the Republican party but the entire country. I’m going to reach out to Democrats disenchanted with the radical left.” Continuing, he argued that many “mainstream Democrats” are “disenfranchised, disengaged and disgusted with the radical left.”
He then said that things were far different and better in America under the Trump Administration, saying, “In Trump’s America, people don’t have to worry about food on the table, medicine in the cabinet and a roof over their head.” Making much the same point about unifying Americans in search of a better country, he said, “Unity is my message.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, for his part, has pushed back against the claims of Navarro and others on the right that the DOJ is weaponized against them. He told reporters at one point, for example, “The idea that politics infects our prosecutions, nothing could be further from the truth. We have one rule. We follow the facts, and we follow the law and we make the appropriate decisions.”
Featured image credit: By The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXOkJTDNEs, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57873688
