Former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro said Wednesday that Secret Service officers should take lie detector tests in the investigation of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
“The worst day I had in prison was the day the president almost lost his life,” Mr. Navarro said during an interview on The Washington Times’ “Court Watch” podcast. “Come on, come on … I know too much about the government and how the Secret Service works.”
“They knew [the shooter] was up there. What are we to conclude?” he said. “I want every one of those Secret Service agents under a lie detector.”
Mr. Navarro, the former director of the White House National Trade Council, observed the July 13 shooting from a federal prison in Miami, where he was serving time for defying a congressional subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
His case is being appealed, but he was forced to serve his four-month sentence as the litigation is pending.
“I felt helpless,” Mr. Navarro said of watching his former boss being wounded at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania. “After the fact, then you learn they knew about this active threat like 15 to 20 minutes beforehand.”
The active threat was Thomas Matthew Crooks, who law enforcement says appears to have fired eight rounds before being killed by a Secret Service countersniper, according to testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — 11 days after the assassination attempt.
One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed during the attack and two others were wounded. Mr. Trump’s right ear was grazed by a bullet.
“I never thought the Secret Service was hostile to the president, but I knew the FBI and CIA were and now we are learning there are portions of the Secret Service we have to worry about,” Mr. Navarro said.
Mr. Navarro, who worked with Mr. Trump from his 2016 campaign and his administration, said he believes the Secret Service agents who were present in Butler County, Pennsylvania, when Mr. Trump was shot allowed the shooter to take eight shots before taking him out.
“How do you conclude anything other than this, that somebody — I don’t know if it was more than one person or a conspiracy or whatever or just somebody who didn’t like Trump in the Secret Service — who decided you know what, I am just going to let this unfold and I’ll take the shot after he takes his shots,” Mr. Navarro said.
An investigation into the assassination attempt is ongoing.
Mr. Navarro was released from prison last week — around the same time his new book “The New MAGA Deal: The Unofficial Deplorables Guide to Donald Trump’s 2024 Policy Platform” was published.
In the book, Mr. Navarro details the first 100 actions Mr. Trump should take if he wins the November election. He said the first is to secure the border for both national security and the nation’s labor market.
Mr. Navarro’s goal in writing the book is to help Mr. Trump win and push back against the Democrats’ narrative that the MAGA movement is extreme.
“They want to paint us as something other than mainstream,” he said. “If we lose this election, we lose this country. It’s that simple.”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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