Peter Navarro served in the Trump administration as the Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy and the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator.
Navarro admitted he helped devise a scheme with Steve Bannon to keep Republican President Donald Trump in power after Trump lost the popular and electoral votes in the 2020 election. Navarro might have information pertinent to the January 6 attempt to carry out the plan he crafted, so he was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the events of that day.
Navarro—like other admitted planners of the insurrection—chose to disregard Congress' request. Now facing contempt charges, the FBI arrested Navarro Friday, June 3.
The arrest of an elderly White man of high social standing was completely unacceptable though to Fox News' resident White nationalist Tucker Carlson. The conservative pundit used his program to rail against Navarro's arrest.
You can see an excerpt here:
In his usual rapid fire word vomit style, Carlson ranted:
"Peter Navarro is the picture of a law-abiding American citizen. He's a 72-year-old retired business school professor."
"He's got a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. His most recent job was extremely white collar. He served as the White House trade adviser in the last presidential administration, famous for his tough stance on China."
"He's never been charged with a crime. He's never trafficked fentanyl, for example, from Mexico."
"In fact, his hobby is yoga and riding his bicycle."
Carlson then claimed affluent White men like Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro deserve special handling by law enforcement.
While an arrest at an airport as a suspect attempts to leave the area might make sense to some, Carlson felt the FBI should have called Navarro's lawyer to request a convenient time and place to arrest him "as is customary" for rich White men.
"In short, Peter Navarro does not seem like a criminal, much less a danger to this nation. And yet last Friday, federal agents arrested Peter Navarro at Reagan National Airport in Washington."
"They did not call his lawyer, as is customary in cases like this. They didn't even come to his house, which, as it happens, is just feet from the FBI building, and they could have walked, but they didn't."
"Instead, they took down Peter Navarro in public, as you would a fugitive terror mastermind so everyone could see it and learn the lesson they were sending. They handcuffed Peter Navarro. They put him in leg irons, and then they threw him in a cell."
"He's now facing years in prison."
"So, what did Peter Navarro do to deserve treatment like this? Well, he resisted a subpoena from the January 6 committee."
Carlson—a vocal proponent of law enforcement in cases where unarmed people of color who haven't been charged with a crime are shot or killed by police—then gave a treatise on how "civilized countries" operate.
He said:
"This is not the way civilized countries operate. Just because you control the White House and both Houses of Congress, does not mean you get to throw your political opponents behind bars."
"That's not what we do in America. That's what they do in Haiti, but that's what we're doing now and Peter Navarro was not the first."
"Biden's Justice Department also arrested former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for a similar fake crime. Steve Bannon is awaiting trial this summer."
Steve Bannon who received a pardon from Trump in January 2021—which requires an admission of guilt—has been charged for several crimes since 2020, including defrauding donors to his "We Build The Wall" organization.
In late December 2021, Navarro told The Daily Beast:
“It was a perfect plan. And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill."
"We didn’t even need any protesters, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it."
Bannon now faces contempt charges.
Carlson then called out the media for not parroting his rhetoric.
"So, this is not something we've seen before. It's a huge step toward the politics of the Third World, but the media whose job you thought of was to push back against power are not."
"They are, in fact, applauding because it turns out no punishment is too severe for those who disagree with the national news media. Watch them gloat."
While the media might not be gloating, others are pleased one of the planners of the attempt to overturn the 2020 election results is facing consequences for his choices.
You know who else was the picture of a law abiding citizen: BTK!!
— Suzie JMo Flowers (@SoozieFlowers) June 7, 2022
"the picture" = "a white male"
— Yasu (@EacklesLedell) June 7, 2022
You know who else was the picture of a law abiding citizen: BTK!!
— Suzie JMo Flowers (@SoozieFlowers) June 7, 2022That was all until he didn’t comply with the subpoena. Everyone is a law abiding citizen until they break the law. 😂
— Goldflake (@Chef_FEZ) June 7, 2022
You could say the same about Nixon,. Mitchell etc
— Enn Hanes (@EnnHanes) June 7, 2022
At the end of his tirade, Carlson repeated another of his frequent claims.
He ended saying:
"Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the lunatics on the January 6 committee have done far more damage to this democracy than the rioters ever did, far more."
The Capitol riot—which occurred after a Trump rally where the President told his MAGA minions and the White nationalists and White supremacists in attendance to march on the Capitol and give Congress and Vice President Mike Pence a message—resulted in at least five deaths, over 100 injuries to law enforcement and millions of dollars in damages.
