Peter Navarro was the punchline of a joke even before he made himself a laughing stock internationally with his crack, “There’s a place in Hell for Justin Trudeau.” But his legend is only going to increase now. The fact that Navarro would admit to conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in the first place and then admit that Donald Trump actually knew about it and then to put it in a book, is almost too much to believe. But then again, if we’ve learned one thing in the Era of Trump it has been to suspend disbelief because so much happens that is utterly beyond belief. Daily Beast:
In his recently published memoir, Peter Navarro, then-President Donald Trump’s trade advisor, details how he stayed in close contact with Bannon as they put “Green Bay Sweep” in motion with help from members of Congress loyal to the cause. […]
“We spent a lot of time lining up over 100 congressmen, including some senators. It started out perfectly. At 1 p.m., Gosar and Cruz did exactly what was expected of them,” Navarro told The Daily Beast. “It was a perfect plan. And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill. We didn’t even need any protestors, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it.”
That commitment appeared as Congress was certifying the 2020 Electoral College votes reflecting that Joe Biden beat Trump. Sen. Cruz signed off on Congressman Gosar’s official objection to counting Arizona’s electoral ballots, an effort that was supported by dozens of other Trump loyalists.
Staffers for Cruz and Gosar did not respond to requests for comment. There’s no public indication whether the Jan. 6 Committee has sought testimony or documents from Sen. Cruz or Rep. Gosar. But the committee has only recently begun to seek evidence from fellow members of Congress who were involved in the general effort to keep Trump in the White House, such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).
This last-minute maneuvering never had any chance of actually decertifying the election results on its own, a point that Navarro quickly acknowledges. But their hope was to run the clock as long as possible to increase public pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to send the electoral votes back to six contested states, where Republican-led legislatures could try to overturn the results. And in their mind, ramping up pressure on Pence would require media coverage. While most respected news organizations refused to regurgitate unproven conspiracy theories about widespread election fraud, this plan hoped to force journalists to cover the allegations by creating a historic delay to the certification process.
They were planning to force lengthy debate and then televise these hearings because of course they were. This is reality TV to these people, not reality.
Now this next part will blow your mind, even though in the past five years you’ve probably experienced your mind being blown more often than you’ve changed your socks. Sad thing to have to say, but pathetically it’s true.
Navarro’s part in this ploy was to provide the raw materials, he said in an interview on Thursday. That came in the form of a three-part White House report he put together during his final weeks in the Trump administration with volume titles like, “The Immaculate Deception” and “The Art of the Steal.”
I’m glad high treason is a source of amusement.
When asked if Trump himself was involved in the strategy, Navarro said, “I never spoke directly to him about it. But he was certainly on board with the strategy. Just listen to his speech that day. He’d been briefed on the law, and how Mike [Pence] had the authority to it.”
That’s a useful piece of testimony right there and it certainly comports with everything we saw and heard that day. The January 6 Committee should appreciate it. As to Pence being briefed, oh yeah, he had the Eastman Memo, what further justification could he possibly need to overthrow the government?
I can’t wait to hear Trump weigh in on this. Do you suppose Navarro will be the next coffee boy, going under the bus? Is there any room left under the bus? Last I knew, Trump had thrown so many people under it already that the bus was balancing on a stack of bodies five stories high.
Anyone else get the impression that he’s screaming “You’re goddamn right I did!” because he’s afraid he’s next on the J6 Committee’s list? Specifically, I’m pretty sure it’s the financials they got their hands on from Budovich that has him worried. So he’s already preparing his martyrdom pyre for the inevitable.
Let’s hope he meets the same fate as the fictional Col. Jessup.
If Garland can’t get any of these traitors to flip, he should throw them all under the jail, not busses as Trump does. I know he is of the same generation and peer group as Mueller and Barr, so I don’t have much hope. It is galling that Garland has allowed the Trump/Barr instigated witch hunts to continue. Disgusting. Worrying about the right-wing response to anything is a joke. We are at war, not in a debating class. I will die under a fascist dictatorship if drastic measures are not taken soon.
Because you can’t se what’s going on at DOJ and the FBI doesn’t mean they’re sitting on their hands. They have better security than the former guy’s maladministration or the people involved in the coup.
Why do I get ads in Russian on this blog? Am I really a Putin Bot and just don’t know it? Can they do that to me? Maybe I am a Bot. That electric drill looks pretty good to me.
“It all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill.” Uh, really, Peter? Isn’t peace and calm the norm on Capitol Hill? The fact that Navarro is trying so hard to convince us that they weren’t planning on violence makes me wonder what they really discussed.
Apparently they didn’t expect an actual try at insurrection, despite all the work they put into setting it up.