Former Trump aide Peter Navarro is busy speculating on who will fill out the former president’s next Cabinet before he’s even confirmed that he’ll be running in 2024.
Mr Navarro, who was arrested and indicted for criminal contempt of Congress in June this year, began mapping out what a hypothetical Trump administration might look like while appearing on right-wing entrepreneur Clay Clark’s podcast this week. He predicted none other than combative TV host Judge Jeanine Pirro as a frontrunner for US attorney general.
“The attorney general, which is a really key spot, kind of fun to have Judge Jeanine there,” said Mr Navarro. The idea even evoked a chuckle from the show’s host.
“Bill Barr was a total, total mistake … that was just bad,” Mr Navarro quipped.
Attorney General William Barr, once an avowedly loyal Trump supporter and appointed to the position by the one-term president himself, earned the scorn of the MAGA crowd after he refused to toe the party line and declared that he had uncovered no evidence to support the Big Lie being pushed by the former president that there had been widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Ms Piro, whose own ex-husband was pardoned for his conviction of conspiracy and tax evasion by the twice-impeached president in the waning moments of his administration, has been a frequent and dedicated ally of Mr Trump, which could be enough qualifications to earn her the highest legal officer position in the country should he return to the White House in 2024.
Mr Navarro also floated the idea that several other notable Trump administration officials should have a renaissance in the White House should their former boss regain the White House.
“It’s really critical to staff these positions well. I would love Steve Cortes at the national economic council director. Domestic policy council, bring Stephen Miller back, let him handle border security,” said Mr Navarro.
In addition to the people he’d like to see back in their helm – which included Ben Carson, former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Robert Lighthizer, a Trump administration trade representative – Mr Navarro also listed off some of the names of Trump officials he’d hate to see back inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Topping that list was Jared Kusher, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior aide, Rex Tillerson, an ousted secretary of state and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who handed in his resignation to the one-term president after the commander in chief decided to withdraw American forces from Syria in December 2018.
The loyalty of Michael Flynn, Trump’s one-time national security adviser, to the former US president seemed to earn him some points with Mr Navarro, who declared on the show: “He’s gonna have the pick of his jobs in that new administration I guarantee that.”
The former president, who is fielding a massive FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, has yet to declare if he’ll make a run for a second term, but his political action committees have raised millions of dollars from supporters since the August search, The Washington Post reported.
