Former president Donald Trump has condemned the Department of Justice’s indictment of his former trade adviser Peter Navarro, asking why people involved in Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests were not held to the same account.
The Justice Department on Friday indicted Mr Navarro for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena from the select committee investigating the 6 January riot. Mr Navarro was arrested Friday morning as he was boarding a plane to Nashville.
Mr Trump posted his message on Truth Social, the social media platform he started after Twitter banned him.
“Our great trade genius, Professor Peter Navarro, was just handcuffed, shackled, and put in jail, while the lowlifes [sic] of ANTIFA & BLM are allowed to rip off the public, roam free on the streets, kill people, and destroy our once great cities (all run by Democrats)”, the former president said.
Mr Navarro had complained that his arrest amounted to prosecutorial misconduct because he was handcuffed and placed in a jail cell.
“Who are these people? This is not America. I was a distinguished civil servant for four years. No one questioned my ethics”, Mr Navarro said on Friday. Mr Trump echoed those sentiments in his remarks on Monday.
“When will this end? The American people will not stand for it much longer!” he said. “The American people will not stand for it much longer! Great patriotic heroes are being created every day. FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE must rule the day!”
The select committee had previously issued a subpoena to Mr Navarro that commanded him to turn over documents and to appear before the panel on 23 February. The former adviser refused, claiming executive privilege, which protects communications between presidents and their adviser.
Specifically, the committee wanted to ask him about his plan to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, which he called “the Green Bay Sweep”.
