President-elect Trump is bringing Peter Navarro, a former adviser who served prison time related to the Capitol attack, back to the White House for his second administration. Navarro will serve as a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Trump announced in a Truth Social post. Trump wrote that the position "leverages Peter's broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills." Navarro, a trade adviser during Trump's first term, was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the "partisan weaponization of the judicial system."
Navarro, 75, has been a longtime critic of trade arrangements with China, the AP reports. During Trump's initial term, Navarro pushed aggressively for tariffs, while also playing down the risks of triggering a broader trade war. He also focused on counterfeited imports and even helped to assemble an infrastructure plan for Trump that never came to fruition. Navarro often used fiery language that upset US allies. In 2018, after a dispute between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Navarro said "there's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy" with Trump "and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door." Navarro later apologized.
Other Trump choices announced Wednesday:
- Trump said he asked Michael Whatley to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatley ran the committee during the election along with Lara Trump, the wife of Trump's son Eric.
- Trump chose Daniel Driscoll as Army secretary. Trump said Driscoll, an Army veteran and venture capitalist who has been serving as senior advisor to Vice President-elect JD Vance, has a "powerful combination of experiences to serve as a disruptor and change agent," the Hill reports.
- The president-elect said Adam Boehler will be his "Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, with the personal rank of Ambassador." Boehler, Trump said, "worked for me as a Lead Negotiator on the Abraham Accords team."
- Trump said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, reports the AP. Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a "proven leader for common sense regulations."
- Billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman is Trump's pick to lead NASA.
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