House investigators suggest former Trump advisor Peter Navarro steered coronavirus supply contracts to companies he favored


After former President Donald Trump ignored his advice to ramp up the procurement of coronavirus supplies before the United States was overwhelmed by the pandemic, former White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro reportedly took it upon himself to get the job done. While some government officials, including Dr. Rick Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, have spoken admirably about how seriously Navarro took the pandemic, the House subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak is concerned by his process, The Washington Post reports.
The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), alleges Navarro and other senior White House officials pursued "a haphazard and ineffective approach to procurement in which senior White House officials steered contracts to particular companies without adequate diligence or competition." One of those companies was Phlow, which was incorporated in January 2020 and had never manufactured drugs before. After a push from Navarro, BARDA awarded the firm with a $354 million contract, plus $458 million in options. A letter from the subcommittee explains Navarro was first introduced to Phlow's eventual CEO in November 2019, and the Post reports the company had "won Navarro's favor by making the argument that the United States was too dependent on Chinese manufacturing — a big concern" of his.
House investigators reportedly also obtained documents which reveal retired Gen. Jack Keane, a Trump ally, touted the company AirBoss, for which he was a paid consultant, to Navarro on March 22. That led to an immediate conversation between Airboss' brass and White House officials, the Post reports. The next day, the company reportedly submitted a $96.4 million proposal, and Navarro's team reportedly pressured the Federal Emergency Management Agency to finalize an updated version of the contract within a week. Read more at The Washington Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
The trial of Jair Bolsonaro, the 'Trump of the tropics'
The Explainer Brazil's former president will likely be found guilty of attempting military coup, despite US pressure and Trump allegiance
-
Telephobia: why young people are being taught how to make phone calls
In The Spotlight Young people are so scared of calls that they 'scream' when their phone rings
-
Crossword: September 2, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year