Judging Freedom - Navarro - it's all about stopping Trump 2024

Episode Date: June 4, 2022

Grand jury indicts former Trump adviser Peter Navarro for contempt of Congress Navarro - it's all about stopping Trump 2024 #TRUMP2024 #Trump #BidenIsAFailure see full vid: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WIuIclPh0...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here with Judging Freedom. Today is Friday, June 3rd, 2022. It's about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Wow, I don't know if you saw it, but if you didn't, we're going to run the clips for you. A fiery, fiery press conference or press statement by Peter Navarro. Who's Peter Navarro? Peter Navarro was one of the senior economic advisors to President Trump during his four years in the White House, who also from time to time gave political advice. Full disclosure, I know Peter Navarro. He was a regular guest at Fox Business in the years right before Trump was elected.

And of course, I was the legal analyst for Fox Business as well as for Fox News. I've met him many times and I've chatted with him. He's a fiery tough guy, as you'll see in a minute. What happened to him? He was subpoenaed to testify before the January 6th committee. That's the committee of the House of Representatives investigating what happened on January 6th. And instead of showing up like Alex Jones did and Roger Stone did and invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination by remaining silent, he basically refused to cooperate with the committee,

refused to show up, he refused to engage lawyers, he refused to interact with the committee. So the committee asked the House of Representatives to hold him in contempt. It did. That didn't move him. The House of Representatives asked the Justice Department to indict him for criminal contempt, two counts of criminal contempt. And yesterday, he was indicted for two counts of criminal contempt. Now, when you're indicted in the federal system, you either surrender immediately or they come and get you. But since Mr. Navarro chose to act as his own lawyer and generally not being a criminal defense lawyer himself. He's unfamiliar with the criminal procedure.

I guess he didn't expect the FBI to show up. And they show up. They did in force, handcuffing him, shackling him as he was about to get on a flight. I don't know to where, but somewhere from Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. So we have three clips for you. This is hot breaking news. We just taped these clips in the past 10 minutes. Here's Peter Navarro outside the federal courthouse.

He's just come out and they've told him and they just let him free. And he's hot as a wet hen. Here he is. What did they do? They intercepted me getting on the plane. And then they put me in handcuffs. They bring me here. They put me in leg irons.

They stick me in a cell. Handcuffs, leg irons at the airport in public view, stick him in a cell, and then eventually bring him before a judge who lets him go. If he had lawyers, he probably could have negotiated a surrender. Doesn't always work. We know what they did to Roger Stone. They sent 25 federal agents, a boat, a helicopter, and a SWAT team to arrest him at 530 in the morning, even though Stone was

represented. So he's quite correct that he shouldn't have been treated the way he was treated. His argument is that he can't appear before the committee because he is bound by President Trump's executive privilege and President Biden did not have the power to revoke the executive privilege of his predecessor. He's on shaky ground legally, but he makes a very strong case. Here he is. Case law, settled case law, is for them to first go and negotiate executive privilege and testimony immunity with President Trump. They did not do that. What they did was they colluded with the White House to have Joe Biden engage in the fanciful

and absurd notion that somehow a sitting incumbent could strip his predecessor of executive privilege and me of testimony immunity. It does not fly. Well, the case law goes both ways. There is case law that says or intimates you have executive privilege forever. And then there's case law that says you only have executive privilege while you're in the White House. And of course, Donald Trump was not in the White House at the time. When he says they, he's not talking about the FBI. He's talking about the House Committee. He's challenging the existence of the House Committee. Well, a federal judge has already found that the House Committee is validly constituted and is a legitimate agent of the Congress, and that was upheld by a federal appeals court. So he's not on solid ground there, nor is he on solid ground to say, I don't have to honor your subpoena because I'm protected by executive privilege. All he has to do is show up and invoke the Fifth Amendment.

But instead, he thumbed his nose at them, and as a result, he did not have a good day. Now, here he is saying probably the most profound thing he said today. He argues that the purpose of that January 6th committee is to prevent President Trump from running in 2024. And he maintains he, Peter Navarro, got in their way. Their mission, their clear mission is to prevent Donald John Trump from running for president in 2024 and being elected for president. People like me are in their way, and they're not coming for me and Trump, they're coming for you. All 74 million of you who voted for Donald John Trump. I understand his heat. I mean, I can imagine a person being arrested as if they had committed a crime of violence, as opposed to being told, hey, Mr. Navarro, you were just indicted by a grand jury, and we need to process you. You have to appear before

a judge. Can you come in today? Ordinarily, in a white-collar case like this, white-collar meaning no violence, the defendant is represented by counsel, and counsel and the prosecutor will negotiate a peaceful surrender. Again, it doesn't always happen. It didn't happen to Roger Stone. What Bob Mueller did to Roger Stone is unforgivable. Twenty-three or twenty-five federal agents to arrest him. The judge says, what's going on here? What are all these agents doing here?

I'm releasing him on his own recognizance. He just wasted federal assets, Mr. Mueller. Well all of whom are ex-assistant U.S. attorneys. They know the FBI. They know the judges. They know the system. They could easily have negotiated a peaceful surrender. Actually, what they would have said is, do what Alex Jones and Roger Stone did. Accept the subpoena, show up, and invoke your privilege against testifying. And then, like with Alex Jones and Roger Stone, it goes away. They can't hold you in contempt. They can't charge you. They can't indict you. They can't arrest you. They can't prosecute you. What he basically did in front of that courthouse today was tantamount to a confession. If this case is tried, I guarantee you the feds will run that tape. So look, I don't know where this is going

to end up if the Republicans win this November and take the House of Representatives. The committee for sure won't exist after the first week in January when the Republicans are in charge of organizing the House. But still, that's six months away and a lot can happen in the next six months. Hey, Pete. Pete Navarro. We've known each other for years. Get a good lawyer. Handle this in a way that doesn't give you a heart attack and that doesn't let the FBI with their hand shackles and their leg irons anywhere near you.

Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.