Former Donald Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was released from federal prison in Miami on Wednesday morning. His next stop is Milwaukee, where he’s scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention.
Navarro served his four-month term following his conviction for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a House Jan. 6 committee subpoena. The Supreme Court rejected his bid to stay free while he appeals and his legal challenge is pending. Trump ally Steve Bannon is currently incarcerated for his own contempt of Congress conviction, which he’s appealing from behind bars after the Supreme Court also rejected his bid to stay free in the meantime.
Navarro’s expected appearance on the convention stage comes shortly after Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was found guilty on 16 counts in his federal corruption trial; top Democrats quickly called on him to resign. Meanwhile, Navarro’s criminal history isn’t a hindrance to him being platformed by the Republican Party. Indeed, the former Trump adviser’s speaking engagement doesn’t come in spite of his conviction but because of it.
The party’s embrace of Navarro fits well within its “law and order” mantra, which doesn’t mandate a literal application of the law but is rather about maintaining a certain social order. The party’s presidential nominee was criminally indicted four times and convicted once so far, in New York state court (he pleaded not guilty in every case). Trump was supposed to have been sentenced in that case last week, but the sentencing was postponed after the immunity ruling handed down by the Supreme Court majority he helped appoint.
If he wins in November, Trump is poised to get his federal cases dismissed by a new attorney general who’d presumably still apply the nation’s laws to those deemed the real criminals by the administration. Or Trump could attempt a legally untested self-pardon should he return to the White House. He has already said that he would grant clemency to Jan. 6 defendants, and he pardoned Bannon before leaving office last time.
With that in mind, whatever Navarro’s political plans, his best legal strategy may be staying in Trump’s good graces.
