OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former aide to former President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, is furious after being arrested and indicted by the Department of Justice.
The charge for the 72-year-old amounts to a misdemeanor because he did not appear before congressional investigators to give a deposition about the January 6 incident at the Capitol.
Representatives Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming said that they did not know why others were not indicted.
“We find the decision to reward Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino for their continued attack on the rule of law puzzling,” they said. “Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino unquestionably have relevant knowledge about President Trump’s role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6.”
But speaking in front of the courthouse Navarro likened the indictment to “terrorism,” Mediaite reported.
“I told them [to] contact an individual that would discuss this matter. What did they do? They didn’t call me. I spoke to the FBI agent that arrested me. I spoke to him Wednesday night. I said, “Walter, whatever you need. You don’t have to come banging on my door like you did last week getting me out of bed. I’m here to cooperate.” What did they do? I was on my way to Nashville today to do a TV appearance with Mike Huckabee‘s show, all right?” he said.
“And instead of coming to my door where I live, which by the way is right next to the FBI, instead of calling me and say, ‘Hey, we need you down in court, we’ve got a warrant for you,’ I would have gladly come. What did they do? They intercepted me getting on the plane. Then they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here, they put me in leg irons stick me in a cell,” he argued.
“They responded with effectively the same kind of thing you’d see in Stalin‘s Russia or the Chinese Communist Party,” the former aide said. “I note interestingly for the record, the only two people that have been indicted on criminal charges are me and Steve Bannon.”
“There was no reason on God’s good Earth for what they did today to an American citizen. That did not have to happen. It’s terrorism, it’s coercion. There’s no excuse for what they did today. America needs to know this,” he said.
“Their mission, their clear mission, is to prevent Donald John Trump from running for president in 2024 and being elected president,” he said. “People like me are in their way and they’re not coming for me, they’re coming for you. All 74 million of you who voted for Donald John Trump.”
MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner appeared on SiriusXM and spoke to host Dean Obeidallah where he said that former President Trump is the “ultimate target” of the Department of Justice’s investigation into the January 6 incident at the Capitol, Mediaite reported.
“What do you make of this? The more the reporting, again, it was source reporting, but we’re getting leaks out. So there is a grand jury. There’s no doubt there’s a grand jury. There’s 100% sure there’s a grand jury now and it’s investigating the alternate fraudulent electors, which is all to help Donald Trump. And according to New York Times reporting that they’re requesting information about Trump’s lawyers, Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and others. Is this again part of the same thing with Navarro? And again, do you believe that Donald Trump is one of the targets of this?” the host asked the legal analyst.
“Yeah. So clearly I think Donald Trump is the ultimate target. And it seems to me that there are a couple of things going on. It seems to me that what DOJ is now doing is working its way up the criminal food chain. They continue to go after, prosecute and convict Donald Trump’s footsoldiers of the insurrection that he told to go attack the Capitol and stop the steal. And they obeyed those commands from their commander in chief. The timing of it, I think, is really interesting and maybe even a little telling, Dean. Because all of a sudden, DOJ does a couple of things,” the MSNBC legal analyst said.
“One, they request all transcripts from the J. Six Committee, more than a thousand transcripts. And the next thing you know, what happens? Subpoenas start to fly that make it clear they are now working their way up the criminal ladder to high government officials, to lawyers, to Trump family members who have testified before the J. Six Committee. And why is it that we now have the kind of flurry of activity that you and I have been looking for for the past year and a half?” he said.
“Well, could it be because the Department of Justice has gotten wind of precisely what the American people are going to see beginning on June 9 regarding the crimes of Donald Trump and his coconspirators. And people are going to be screaming bloody murder. Why haven’t they been indicted? And that, it feels to me like all of a sudden DOJ is in full sprint, anticipating what we are all about to see,” he said.