Peter Navarro Says He Wanted 'Baby' Dr. Anthony Fauci 'Strangled In His Crib'

Donald Trump’s fervent supporter and former trade adviser Peter Navarro slipped off the rails in a ridiculous interview with Steve Bannon, recounting how he urged one-time White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to “strangle that [Dr. Anthony] Fauci baby in his crib.”

Navarro, who has no background in science or public health, baselessly claimed the nation’s top infectious disease expert had lied repeatedly about COVID-19 and compared him to Adolf Hitler in the interview on Bannon’s “War Room” Wednesday.

He told Trump’s former White House strategist that he urged Trump twice to fire Fauci, but “I’m like ... the economics guy,” and the president had “all this stuff going on,” Navarro recounted.

Meanwhile, he said, “coward” Mulvaney and the White House press office were “quivering in their knees at the thought they might take any blowback if Fauci got fired.”

Navarro said he told Mulvaney: “This is like Churchill with Hitler — strangle that Fauci baby in his crib.”

Navarro, former director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, was subpoenaed Thursday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis chaired by Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). The committee is looking into the Trump administration’s response to the deadly COVID-19 surge last year, months after Trump vowed it would quickly vanish.

Trump then called on Navarro to keep mum and “protect executive privilege” in the investigation by the “Communist Democrats” into his administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Trump described his administration’s response to COVID-19 as “unprecedented and incredible,” even though more than 400,000 Americans died on his watch from the illness.

Navarro’s subpoena demands that he appear for a deposition on Dec. 1 and hand over documents connected to the coronavirus response by Dec. 8.

It doesn’t look like he plans to turn up:

Navarro frequently spouted lies about the coronavirus and the administration while working for Trump.

He insisted Trump’s demands to slow testing so COVID-19 cases wouldn’t look so bad were “tongue in cheek.” He has baselessly called the pandemic a “product of the Chinese Communist Party.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.