Washington | On a clear day last July in Miami, Peter Navarro emerged from four months in federal prison, where he’d been serving a sentence for contempt of Congress. Navarro had refused to testify in an investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, an action he described as a defence of the Constitution.

Hours after his release from prison, Navarro flew to Milwaukee to speak at the Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump.