White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday combatively defended President Trump over his move to sign a flurry of coronavirus relief executive actions at his golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey.
On Saturday afternoon, the President signed an executive order and three memoranda on coronavirus relief after negotiations on a new coronavirus relief bill between the White House and Democrats failed. Trump’s executive actions could potentially face legal challenges, given how the President issued the executive actions at the expense of taxpayer dollars without prior approval from Congress.
Prior to signing the executive actions, the President had largely punted his administration’s negotiations with congressional leaders to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
After saying that he’s “confident” that Trump’s executive actions “will stand up” in court during an interview on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Navarro was pressed on why Trump stayed at his golf club all weekend as relief negotiations fell apart and generally sat on the sidelines during talks.
Navarro pushed back by touting that Trump is “the hardest-working President in history” and that “he works 24/7” before launching into a tirade against Capitol Hill.
“The problem here is Capitol Hill, ‘the swamp,'” Navarro said. “The two houses that are too far apart.”
Navarro then threw in a baffling defense of Trump’s executive actions.
“The Lord and the Founding Fathers created executive orders because of partisan bickering and divided government,” Navarro said. “That’s what we have here, but the President has taken action.”
Navarro added that the President’s constituency is mainstream Republicans, blue collar Democrats and independents “who are sick and tired of the swamp” before arguing that Trump “could have just let this keep going, and he did not.”
Watch Navarro’s remarks below:
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro defends Trump's executive orders: "I mean the Lord, and the Founding Fathers created executive orders, because of partisan bickering and divided government. That's what we have here." pic.twitter.com/exduSYOtGi
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) August 9, 2020
