The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot is still amassing intel, from participants both willing and not-so-willing. A number of those in Donald Trump’s close circle have defied subpoenas. They have thus been held in contempt of Congress, and even indicted, though they had evaded jail time — at least until now. On Friday, a federal jury indicted Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump. He was briefly incarcerated, and when he was released, his rant to reporters was so unhinged MSNBC cut away from him mid-sentence.
Navarro was indicted on two charges of criminal contempt for refusing to comply with the House committee’s subpoena. Authorities apprehended him while he was attempting to board a plane in Nashville, and he remained in custody until he appeared in court to be arraigned. Upon his release, a visibly flustered Navarro railed against his treatment to the press.
“They intercepted me gettin’ on the plane and then they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here,” Navarro railed. “They put me in leg irons. They stick me in a cell.” He also pointed out that the same cell s John Hinckley Jr., who had attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 and who is set to be released on June 15.
Navarro’s panicky, unfocused ramblings evidently annoyed staffers at MSNBC, who decided to cut away from him, leaving anchor John Heilemann to decry his splutterings.
“I am a devotee of breaking news as much as anyone, but only so much bug-eyed gibberish that we can tolerate here and that is mostly what we’re hearing from Peter Navarro,” Heilemann said.
Navarro had actually appeared on MSNBC the day before, threatening payback for the Jan. 6 committee. “I will take Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin and Nancy Pelosi and Elaine Luria and all of those clowns and kangaroos,” Navarro told them. “I’ll take Biden and every single senior staff member in there, I will put them with subpoenas, and we’ll start with the impeachment of Biden for Ukraine, the southern border, all manner of things he is guilty of.”
But that may be difficult for him to do, at least in the near future. You can watch MSNBC’s cutaway in the video above.