Pence adviser told to keep ‘lunatic’ Navarro out of vice president’s office

‘He would write these conspiracy-filled memos that he wanted to deliver to Vice President Mike Pence,’ Olivia Troye recalls

Former Trump White House adviser Olivia Troye has said she was ordered to keep trade adviser Peter Navarro out of Vice President Mike Pence’s office during their term in office.

Ms Troye said on MSNBC that it was because he was considered a “complete lunatic” and would write “conspiracy-filled memos”.

During an appearance on The Reid Out hosted by Joy Reid, Ms Troye — who was Pence’s Homeland Security adviser and part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force — reacted to a video published by Mr Navarro in which he warned of an imminent second civil war between Democrats and Republicans.

“I think the issue is that Peter Navarro and others are still out there trying to radicalise Americans,” she told Reid.

“That’s the point of this whole thing and I almost feel like it’s projection. It’s the willingness and wanting it to happen, right?”

She added: “That’s the issue. That they want to see this happen in the United States.”

Ms Troye continued: “Look, Peter Navarro, I just want to say, was considered a complete lunatic in the West Wing of the White House.

“I had strict orders to keep him out of the vice president’s office because he would write these conspiracy-filled memos that he wanted to deliver to Vice President Mike Pence at the time, and I was specifically ordered by the vice president’s chief of staff to take those memos out of his hand and make sure that he never set foot in the office,” said the former White House staffer.

“That’s the kind of individual that we’re dealing with right now.”

Ms Troye added that Mr Navarro would distribute such memos around the rest of the West Wing to “try to get in Donald Trump’s ear”.