Peter Navarro, who spent 4 months in federal jail for a contempt of Congress order over the Jan. 6 investigations and now serves as senior counselor for commerce and manufacturing, mentioned in an interview about his latest ebook, “I Went to Jail So You Received’t Have To: A Love and Lawfare Story in Trump Land,” that regardless of being convicted and jailed, he by no means broke.
It’s a sentiment he nonetheless carries with him right now.
The ebook is a vivid story; he unpacks how he was a sufferer of a weaponized justice system whereas detailing his experiences in what he calls a flawed minimum-security federal jail in Miami. The ebook additionally attracts the reader in via a collection of emotional letters and diary accounts shared between him and his fiancee and coauthor Bonnie “Pixie” Brenner that describe the emotional impact of his jail time.
A diligent note-keeper, Navarro mentioned that on the time, he realized it might probably turn into a landmark constitutional case on the Supreme Court docket on the constitutional separation of powers and govt privilege.
“And so I saved very detailed notes via the authorized course of,” he defined.
Brenner mentioned watching this play out in actual time stretched her feelings in a means she didn’t know attainable. “The primary time I used to be capable of go to him on the visiting room in jail, I used to be a part of that lengthy line, principally ladies and kids, that had been ready to see their family members,” she mentioned.
She had no concept what to anticipate when she lastly noticed him come out. “Was he going to be sporting an orange jumpsuit or black and white stripes?” she requested. “I didn’t know.” When she noticed a parade of males emerge, together with Navarro, all in inexperienced jumpsuits, she mentioned her coronary heart broke.
“I had tears in my eyes as a result of, not just for Peter, however all the youngsters that had been heading to see their households or fathers,” she mentioned. “After which I began to marvel, how do they get to this stage to be locked up?”
Navarro mentioned in an interview that the ebook serves as a warning: If this might occur to a senior White Home official, then what’s stopping the justice system from permitting this to occur to anybody?
He and Brenner known as what occurred to the economist a wake-up name for all Individuals.
The ebook is uncooked, private and detailed, giving a superb argument for transparency in justice system oversight in addition to significant justice reform.
Salena Zito is a workers reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman via shoe-leather journalism, touring from Important Avenue to the beltway and all locations in between.
