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Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro lashed out at a protester after a federal judge ruled that he couldn't use executive privilege as a defense against contempt of Congress charges.
Navarro, 74, was indicted last year on charges that he refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He's charged with one contempt count for failing to appear for a deposition before the committee investigating the attack and faces a second charge for failing to produce documents the committee requested. He has pleaded not guilty.
Navarro argued that former president Donald Trump had invoked executive privilege, barring him from cooperating with the committee in 2022, but U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Wednesday that Navarro had provided no specific evidence that Trump asserted executive privilege specific to the committee's subpoena.
The former trade adviser to Trump, who promoted claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election, gave a press conference outside the Washington D.C. courthouse after Wednesday's ruling.
Video shared by the liberal outlet Meidas Touch showed the moment an annoyed Navarro tried in vain to pull down a sign carried by a protester who was standing behind him during his press conference.
The sign read: "TRUMP LOST (And you know it!)"
After the protester heckled Navarro, he turned around and repeatedly tried to grab the sign.
"Bro, you're already facing charges," the protester told him.
Moments later, Navarro said he didn't take issue with the sign, but the shouting.
"This is free speech, this is fine, I got no problem with that," he said. "I got a problem with people shouting behind me. That's a problem, that's not right."
The protester replied: "Trump lost."
Moments later, Navarro claimed the protester was blocking a supporter of his.
"This is the problem we have in America, like she's— Trump lost and you know it, that's fine. She's expressing her point of view. She's got a megaphone to disrupt, but when it comes time for me to express my view to you, you've seen what she's done," he said.
"She interrupted me while I was speaking and she won't even let an American show the American flag. Shame on you, ma'am."
On Thursday, Navarro told Newsweek: "Watch the whole video and you'll see a disturbed woman creep up dangerously close behind me, shout at me, and desecrate the American flag waved by another individual. This was not a protest but a threatening harassment by an individual with Trump derangement syndrome. Such shameful and dangerous behavior has no place in the public square."
At Monday's pretrial hearing, Mehta said Navarro's arguments were "pretty weak sauce."
On Wednesday, Mehta cited Trump's refusal to corroborate Navarro's claims as the most compelling reason he found the former president did not seek to block Navarro's testimony to the committee, Politico reported.
"There was no formal invocation of executive privilege by [Trump] after personal consideration nor authorization to Mr. Navarro to invoke privilege on his behalf," Mehta said.
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress for not cooperating with the January 6 committee.
Bannon was sentenced to four months behind bars, but a judge has allowed him remain free while he appeals the conviction.
Jury selection in Navarro's trial is set to begin on September 5.
Update 8/31/23, 9:15 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add a comment from Peter Navarro.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more