Fox Host Pumps the Brakes on Peter Navarro’s Tirade Against Ruling by ‘Rogue Judges’: ‘One Was Appointed by Donald Trump’

Fox Business host Liz Claman interrupted a rant by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro about “rogue judges” with an important piece of context.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade unanimously ruled that most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports are invalid.

When he announced the tariffs on “Liberation Day” on April 2, the president cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify imposing them without congressional approval. The court rejected this interpretation and ordered a halt to the tariffs. However, on Thursday, an appeals court paused that ruling, pending arguments.

Navarro joined Thursday’s installment of The Claman Countdown, where the host asked him about the administration’s legal justification for the tariffs. Specifically, the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to levy tariffs of 15% for 150 days on countries running a significant trade surplus with the U.S.

Claman asked Navarro why the administration forwent this provision and instead invoked “international emergency economic” powers.

“We feel like we’re on very strong legal ground,” Navarro replied, literally a minute before news broke that an appeals court halted the trade court’s pause on tariffs. “And with respect to the legal arguments themselves, these are rogue judges that are basically–”

“One was appointed by Donald Trump,” Claman interjected. “That’s a rogue judge?”

“There was one appointed by Donald Trump,” Navarro conceded.

“And one by Reagan,” Claman noted. The guest responded by deriding the Reagan appointee, who wrote the court’s decision, as a “free trader.”

As he continued to give his response, Claman interrupted him with the news that the appeals court had paused the trade court’s ruling.

“As we fully expected, because they’re wrong on the law, ” Navarro replied.

Earlier in the day, Navarro fielded questions from reporters outside the White House, where he lost it on Andrew Feinberg of The Independent.

“See, wait, who is this guy?!” Navarro replied to Feinberg’s question. “Tell me who you are, Sir.”

Watch above via Fox Business Network.