Peter Navarro, an ex-adviser to Donald Trump, apparently isn’t happy he won’t be able to assert a claim of executive privilege when his trial for contempt of Congress starts on Tuesday.
In fact, he attempted to take out his anger on a demonstrator’s protest sign ― only that didn’t work out so well.
Navarro was indicted in June 2022 on charges that he refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Although Navarro has claimed that the former president “clearly invoked executive privilege” regarding their conversations about the 2020 election, Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the ex-Trump advisor on Wednesday, according to ABC News.
During a hearing on Monday, Mehta called Navarro’s privilege assertions “pretty weak sauce,” and said in Wednesday’s ruling the ex-advisor hadn’t provided specific evidence of the executive privilege claim.
Navarro seemed angry by the ruling when discussing it with reporters on the courthouse steps. Although he first attacked CNN, he found another object of ire right behind him: a woman holding a sign that said “Trump lost.”
The woman not only made sure to keep the sign behind Navarro so that the news cameras couldn’t help but see it, but she heckled him mercilessly.
“This is the problem we have in America,” Navarro said, according to The Hill. “Like, she’s got, ‘Trump Lost,’ and, you know, that’s fine. She’s expressing her point of view.”
He continued griping, especially after one of his supporters tried to block the woman’s sign by holding up an American flag.
“She’s got a megaphone to disrupt. But when it comes time for me to express my view with you, you’ve seen what she’s done,” Navarro moaned. “She’s interrupted me while I was speaking. And she won’t even let an American show the American flag.”
“Shame on you, ma’am,” he continued.
He tried to grab the woman’s sign, and it didn’t go so well as the clip below amply demonstrates.
Navarro’s inability to rip the sign out of the protester’s hands made him an object of ridicule on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, especially after the protester reminded him, “Bro, you’re already facing charges.”