Former White House official Peter Navarro has been released from prison after serving four months for contempt of Congress. He is expected to speak at the Republican National Convention later the same day. Navarro, who previously worked as a trade adviser under President Donald Trump, was imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed his release.
Navarro is scheduled to address the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee during the third night of the event. He is slated to speak during the 6 p.m. hour Central time, according to an anonymous source familiar with the schedule. The Associated Press was the first to report Navarro’s participation in the RNC.
Before his release, Navarro was the first senior Trump administration official to be incarcerated in connection to the January 6 attack. He went to prison in Miami in March. Navarro has criticized his conviction as a result of the “partisan weaponization of the judicial system.” His reluctance to cooperate with the congressional investigation was based on Trump’s claimed executive privilege, which the courts ultimately dismissed as invalid.
Another close ally of Trump, Steve Bannon, started his four-month sentence earlier in the month for contempt of Congress related to the January 6 inquiry. The House committee conducted an extensive 18-month investigation into the deadly insurrection, concluding that Trump was involved in a conspiracy to overturn his election defeat to Joe Biden and failed to prevent his followers from storming the Capitol. Despite the findings, Trump denies any wrongdoing.
