Peter Navarro Rages After Being ‘Handcuffed’ And Indicted For Contempt of Congress: ‘It’s Terrorism, It’s Coercion’

Peter Navarro raged against federal authorities outside a Washington federal courthouse Friday after he was indicted for refusing to cooperate with the  Jan. 6 House select committee.

Navarro likened the federal government to the Soviet Union and complained he was “handcuffed” during his arrest.

The Former Trump administration trade adviser was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress. He was arrested after the committee referred a complaint against him to the Justice Department.

Navarro was detained for most of Friday before he saw a judge and was released.

Immediately after his hearing adjourned, Navarro, 72, spoke to reporters. He ripped the committee, the DOJ, and the FBI.

He said he had spoken to the FBI Wednesday, and attacked the bureau for refusing a chance to bring him into custody without incident. Navarro said,

I told them [t0]contact an individual that would discuss this matter. What did they do? They didn’t call me. I spoke to the FBI agent that arrested me. I spoke to him Wednesday night. I said, “Walter, whatever you need. You don’t have to come banging on my door like you did last week getting me out of bed. I’m here to cooperate.” What did they do? I was on my way to Nashville today to do a TV appearance with Mike Huckabee‘s show, all right?

Navarro complained the FBI decided to arrest him in public at an airport, rather than at his home. He said:

And instead of coming to my door where I live, which by the way is right next to the FBI, instead of calling me and say, “Hey, we need you down in court, we’ve got a warrant for you,” I would have gladly come. What did they do? They intercepted me getting on the plane. Then they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here, they put me in leg irons stick me in a cell.

He also compared the federal government to two authoritarian, communist regimes.

“They responded with effectively the same kind of thing you’d see in Stalin‘s Russia or the Chinese Communist Party,” Navarro said. “I note interestingly for the record, the only two people that have been indicted on criminal charges are me and Steve Bannon.” He added:

There was no reason on God’s good Earth for what they did today to an American citizen. That did not have to happen. It’s terrorism, it’s coercion. There’s no excuse for what they did today. America needs to know this.

Navarro also claimed during the impromptu presser that the Jan. 6 committee has weaponized the DOJ against enemies of the Democratic Party.

“Their mission, their clear mission, is to prevent Donald John Trump from running for president in 2024 and being elected president,” he said. “People like me are in their way and they’re not coming for me, they’re coming for you. All 74 million of you who voted for Donald John Trump.”

He asked people watching to look up and purchase his book, so as to help him mount a legal defense.

Navarro has refused repeated invitations to speak with lawmakers about the aftermath of the 2020 election. He has maintained he cannot speak to them, citing executive privilege, a claim which Biden has already denied.

Watch above, via Fox News.