Navarro says Trump paid $300K in legal bills

Peter Navarro, a former Trump economic adviser, said former President Trump helped pay $300,000 of his legal fees, weeks after he was convicted of contempt of Congress.

Navarro told MSNBC’s Ari Melber his legal fees were in excess of $600,000 so far in the case.

Earlier this month, Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. 

Navarro said he asked Trump for the help, adding he expects this to “be a million-dollar case.” 

“Part of the problem here is this lawfare, this notion of, if you can’t put me in prison, you can at least bankrupt me,” Navarro said. “And you know, I’m not a wealthy guy, I wasn’t one of the wealthy guys in the Trump administration. All I ever did was create jobs, save lives and settle labor strikes. And I thought I did … the honorable productive service to this country” 

“And now, I’m stuck with a lot of legal fees,” he added.

Navarro noted he has been raising money through defendpeter.com, which has raised a little more than $620,000 as of early Thursday afternoon. 

Trump expressed his support for Navarro shortly after the conviction, writing in a social media post, “I can’t believe that these Fascist Monsters have so viciously gone after the great Peter Navarro for defying the totally partisan January 6th Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs.” 

The former president also suggested Navarro’s testimony would not have mattered, claiming without evidence the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6 riots deleted and destroyed its findings. 

Navarro has vowed to appeal the conviction, arguing he and other people who worked with him in the White House are being unfairly targeted.