Donald Trump’s jailed former trade adviser has warned of “mass deportations” should his former boss return to the White House, during an interview conducted from inside prison.
Peter Navarro, 74, is serving a four-month sentence at the low-security FCI Miami prison in Florida after he was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress.
He was charged in 2022 after he refused to provide testimony or documentary evidence when requested by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In the new interview Navarro conducted from behind bars via email with Semafor, he gave his predictions on the “unfinished business” that would be back on the table, should Mr Trump regain the presidency in November.
He told the outlet that Mr Trump would look to “restore our private sector supply chains and manufacturing back to US soil,” and claimed the country was “dangerously vulnerable” to foreign coercion in industries including defense, tech and pharmaceuticals.
“Trump will also quickly seal the border and begin mass deportations,” he said, in a published excerpt of the email exchange with Semafor.
“[President Joe Biden] has imported a wave of crime and terrorism along with an uneducated mass that drives down wages of Black, brown, and blue-collar Americans. Blacks and Hispanics, particularly males in the workforce, are flocking to Trump in droves.”
Navarro surrendered to authorities on 19 March to begin his jail sentence, though pleaded with the Supreme Court to release him just 15 days later.
His sentence came after refusing to appear in front of a bipartisan panel to discuss the plot to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results.
Navarro had referred to the plan as “Green Bay Sweep” in his book In Trump Time (2021) but refused to comply with a subpoena to discuss it with the committee, subsequently arguing, unsuccessfully, that Mr Trump had asserted executive privilege over his testimony and evidence relating to the failed insurrection.
On 7 September last year, a jury found him guilty on both counts after fewer than four hours of deliberation following a two-day trial during which the ex-Trump aide’s defence team presented no witnesses of their own.
Before entering prison in March, Navarro delivered a brief press conference in a parking lot in which he attempted to portray himself as a martyr to Democrat-led persecution and, like Mr Trump, baselessly bemoaned “the partisan weaponization of our judicial system”.
He pledged to “walk proudly” into prison and told reporters: “I will gather strength from this.” Navarro requested to be released two weeks later.
