Republicans cheer ex-Trump aide on release from prison

Donald Trump's former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro received an adoring welcome Wednesday at the Republican National Convention, just hours after he was released from a federal prison.

Navarro served a four-month sentence in Florida for contempt of Congress. The lengthy standing ovation he received from convention delegates echoed the enthusiasm for Trump, who has similarly faced a multitude of legal woes as he seeks a return to the White House.

"I went to prison so you won't have to," Navarro told the crowd. "I am your wake-up call."

The 75-year-old Harvard-educated economist is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Navarro was found guilty of two counts of contempt last September for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

Navarro was the architect of the "Green Bay Sweep," a plot to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

He refused to appear for a deposition before the House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6 insurrection and declined to supply documents to the panel.

He was convicted of contempt by a federal jury in Washington after a two-day trial and claimed to be a victim of "partisan weaponization of our justice system."

"They convicted me, they jailed me. Guess what? They did not break me. And they will never break Donald Trump," he told the convention, as delegates chanted "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Navarro also sounded a warning to vote for Trump and fellow Republicans.

"If we don't control all three branches of our government... their government will put some of us like me and Steve Bannon in prison and control the rest of us."

Navarro was the second close Trump ally to be convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House committee.

Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, was also found guilty of contempt of Congress.

Bannon was sentenced to four months behind bars and began serving his sentence on July 1 at a federal prison in Connecticut.

Trump was scheduled to go to trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

His trial was put on hold, however, until the US Supreme Court heard Trump's claim that a former president is immune from criminal prosecution.

The court ruled earlier this month that a former president has broad immunity and Trump's trial is unlikely to be held before the November election, if ever.

Trump, 78, was impeached for a second time by the House after the Capitol riot -- he was charged with inciting an insurrection -- but was acquitted by the Senate.