Former White House adviser Peter Navarro has called for a full investigation into retired FBI agent Walter Giardina, accusing him of orchestrating politically motivated operations against President Donald Trump and his allies, including Navarro himself, Breitbart reported.
Navarro, a senior trade adviser in Trump first administration, urged Congress and federal authorities to launch an inquiry into Giardina, whom he describes as the central figure in a long-running campaign of "weaponized justice."
Navarro's accusations are detailed in his new book "I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To," in which he argued that Giardina played a pivotal role in nearly every major investigation into Trump over the past decade, from the Steele dossier to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe and beyond.
"I still feel the cold steel of the handcuffs Giardina and his gaggle of armed agents slapped on me at Reagan National Airport," wrote Navarro, recalling his 2022 arrest. "I will never forget the sight of my fiancee being perp-walked out of that same terminal as part of the circus arrest Giardina staged for maximum humiliation."
According to Navarro, Giardina was among the first FBI officials to review the Steele dossier in 2016.
He claimed that whistleblowers told Congress that Giardina vouched for the dossier as "corroborated" despite its most explosive allegations later proving to be false. The document became central to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe and helped justify secret surveillance on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 2019 report found 17 errors or omissions in the bureau's applications for surveillance warrants, including exaggerated claims about Steele's reliability. Navarro argueed Giardina's actions directly enabled what Trump has long branded the "Russia hoax."
Navarro also ties Giardina to the Mueller investigation, alleging the agent improperly wiped his government-issued laptop, potentially erasing key records from the inquiry. Despite that, Giardina reportedly received an internal award for his work on the team.
Whistleblower disclosures to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, further implicated Giardina in a separate 2017 case known as Crimson River, which pursued claims that Egypt funneled $10 million to Trump's campaign. That investigation, Navarro said, never produced evidence but was classified in a way that restricted oversight.
Navarro accuses Giardina of using the Constitution's Emoluments Clause as a "political fishing license" to target Trump's business dealings and later spearheading Operation Arctic Frost, a Jan. 6-related probe that led to the seizure of phones from both Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The most personal chapter of Navarro's allegations centers on his own 2022 arrest. Navarro said the bureau turned his indictment into "political theater," even subjecting his fiancee to a public walkout, though she was not accused of wrongdoing.
Navarro was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the "partisan weaponization of the judicial system."
Navarro insisted that firing politicized FBI officials is insufficient.
"That's why Giardina, along with a long list of alleged lawfare perpetrators, must be investigated," he wrote. "Because if they are not, they will do it again.
"If they can come for me, they can come for you," Navarro said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.