Trump taps Peter Navarro, convicted of contempt of Congress, as trade counselor

Washington — President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has named longtime aide Peter Navarro, who served on the White House Trade Council in the first Trump administration, to be “senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.”

The announcement comes just months after Navarro, 75, was released from prison after serving a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena. Navarro was subpoenaed for records and testimony in 2022 by the now-defunct House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he refused to comply, claiming that Trump had asserted executive privilege over the material sought by the committee.

A federal judge in Washington convicted Navarro of two counts of contempt, and he reported to a Florida federal correctional facility in March to serve a four-month sentence. He spoke at the Republican National Convention in July the same day he was released from prison, slamming the “Department of Injustice” in his speech.

Trump praised Navarro in the announcement Wednesday as a “man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else.” 

As a trade adviser in the first Trump administration, Navarro endorsed “America First” trade policies, including steep tariffs to protect domestic industries.

In the social media post announcing Navarro’s selection, Trump praised Navarro’s time as a trade adviser. “The Senior Counselor position leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills,” Trump wrote. “His mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.”

Trump announced in 2016 that Navarro would be serving at the helm of the newly formed White House Trade Council and as director of trade and industrial policy. Prior to that, he had written a book called “Death by China” that endorsed a hardline toward trade with China.

In March 2020, Trump named Navarro as policy coordinator of the Defense Production Act, which Trump invoked on March 18, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to manufacture medical supplies and PPE. On “60 Minutes” in April 2020, Navarro fiercely defended protectionist trade policies despite the shortage of that equipment before the pandemic. 

“It’s the globalization of production through multinational corporations, who salute no flag, who love cheap sweatshop labor, and who love the massive subsidies that the Chinese government throws at production to bring it from here to there,” Navarro told “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker. 

Congressional subpoena and prison time

The House Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed records and testimony from Navarro, alleging that he developed plans to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. “Mr. Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol,” said the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, at the time. 

In 2021, Navarro wrote a book in which he wrote that he and other Trump advisers constructed a plan called the “Green Bay Sweep” as the “last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.” Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, Navarro promoted a document he called the “Navarro Report” that asserted baseless and discredited claims of election fraud. 

Navarro refused to comply with the subpoena, saying that Trump had invoked executive privilege. The committee recommended in a unanimous vote to recommend contempt charges, with the Justice Department ultimately agreeing, charging him with two counts of contempt.

Navarro testified at an evidentiary hearing that Trump invoked executive privilege in a Feb. 2022 conversation, 11 days after he was subpoenaed. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta barred that defense, saying there was no evidence that any official assertion was made, and Navarro did not testify at his one-day trial. 

In his sentencing, Mehta noted Navarro’s public statements after the attack and said there was no evidence of executive privilege. While Mehta said that it appeared that Navarro at least believed he was operating under the guise of executive privilege, he said executive privilege is not a “magical dust” or “a get-out-of-jail free card.” 

Navarro attempted to appeal his conviction, even requesting after he surrendered to prison his case be heard by the Supreme Court, which declined. He reported to prison in March and served four months at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami, which is reserved for older inmates.

He is not the only person who was charged by the Justice Department for refusing to comply with the House subpoenas. Top Trump aide Steve Bannon also served four months this year. 

Robert Legare and

Ellis Kim

contributed to this report.