Peter Navarro tried to unsuccessfully snatch an anti-Trump sign outside a courthouse on Wednesday following a US district judge’s order that he would not be able to use executive privilege as a shield to evade providing testimony and documents to the House Jan 6 Committee.
Mr Navarro, a former adviser to Donald Trump, attempted to snatch a “Trump lost” sign from a protester on the steps of the federal court house in Washington.
Mr Navarro was speaking to reporters outside the building and after taking questions he turned to engage with the woman who had been heckling him, holding a sign that read: “Trump lost (and you know it)”.
Mr Navarro exclaimed, “Who is this? Come on”, while unsuccessfully trying to snatch the sign from her grip.
The protester said, “Bro, you’re already facing charges”, when he tried to pull the sign from her.
Then he returned to the microphone to speak with reporters.
The woman added: “I’ve been here this whole time. Situational awareness.”
Mr Navarro will stand trial next month for allegedly wilfully defying a congressional subpoena after he claimed he was merely following an executive privilege claim from former president Trump.
Judge Amit P Mehta said Mr Navarro’s claim to have been instructed by Mr Trump to invoke executive privilege during a 20 February 2022 phone call was not accurate in a ruling delivered aloud from the bench and first reported by Politico.
“There was no formal invocation of executive privilege by [Trump] after personal consideration nor authorisation to Mr Navarro to invoke privilege on his behalf,” he said.
He said Mr Navarro had “not met his burden” to show that Mr Trump had ordered him to invoke executive privilege, which means Mr Navarro’s trial will start as scheduled.
