Peter Navarro will return to the White House as a top trade and manufacturing advisor, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday via Truth Social.
Navarro is an economist who worked in Trump’s first administration, leading the newly formed National Trade Council and later the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
A federal jury sentenced Navarro, a loyal supporter of the president-elect, to four months in prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena from a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol. Shortly after his release, Navarro delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention in August.
Navarro promoted widely discredited claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Trump asserted in his announcement on Wednesday that the Deep State, or whatever term you prefer, “treated Navarro horribly.” He said Navarro “did a superb job” in his first term, including advocating for trade policies that encourage Americans to buy and hire domestically.
Who else is joining the Trump administration?
Trump announced Navarro as the first in a flurry of picks on Wednesday to join his administration. They include:
- Daniel Driscoll, a senior advisor for Vice President-elect JD Vance, is Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Army. Driscoll is an Iraq War veteran and worked in venture capital. “Dan brings a powerful combination of experiences to serve as a disruptor and change agent,” Trump said.
- Jared Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and CEO of the payment processing company Shift4 Payments, was named Trump’s administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. Issacman has ties to Trump adviser and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the leader of the Polaris program, which uses SpaceX vehicles to conduct private astronaut missions in orbit. Isaacman is also co-founder and ofrmer CEO of Draken International, a defense aerospace contractor. “Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era,” Trump said.
- Trump said Adam Boehler, former CEO of the United State Development Finance Corporation, will serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs with the rank of ambassador. Trump said Boehler helped negotiate the Abraham Accords, an Arab-Israeli bilateral agreement reached during Trump’s first term. “He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader,” Trump said. “Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME.
- In another move, Trump said he has asked Republican National Committee co-chairman Michael Whatley to return in the same role. Whatley led the RNC alongside Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump. “Michael and Lara transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that will empower the America First Agenda for many years to come,” Trump said.
