MILWAUKEE — Peter Navarro, an aide in former President Donald Trump’s White House, received thunderous cheers at the Republican National Convention Wednesday as he spoke hours after leaving a federal prison in Miami.
“This morning, I did walk out of federal prison,” Navarro said, adding, “If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful. They will come for you.”
Navarro reported to prison in March after he was convicted of contempt of Congress. He was involved in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and defied a subpoena from the House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the run-up to it.
“Here’s how it went,” Navarro said in his speech. “Here’s how I got in prison. The legislative branch came for me first. Your favorite Democrat Nancy Pelosi created your favorite committee, the sham January 6th committee which demanded that I … violate executive privilege. What did I do? I refused.”
Navarro’s speech departed from almost all of the other convention speeches in making mention of Jan. 6 and themes of political persecution. As NBC News reported earlier Wednesday, Trump’s campaign has offered suggestions and made edits to speeches in an effort to tone down some rhetoric in light of the assassination attempt against the former president in Pennsylvania on Saturday,
Speaking with NBC News before his speech, Navarro said he did not receive such guidance for his speech.
“Here’s the most important thing I’m going to tell you: You may be thinking this couldn’t happen to you,” Navarro said. “Make no mistake, they are already coming for you. Joe and Kamala.”
Navarro said the Biden administration was allowing “murderers and rapists” to come across the southern border and steal jobs from “Black, brown and blue-collar Americans.” He claimed that Democrats “come for your kids” by “indoctrinating them with poisonous attitudes on race and gender.”
“I went to prison so you won’t have to,” Navarro said. “I am your wake up call.”
He then riffed in an unscripted moment that included him calling his fiancée on stage and kissing her. The attendees began shouting “we got this,” echoing an earlier line from Navarro.
“That’s what these lawfare jackals don’t understand,” he said.
