Former President Donald Trump on Monday broke years of silence following the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, calling Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison a legal matter that threatens Trump’s freedom and property. I compared it to
“With the sudden death of Mr. Alexei Navalny, I have become more and more aware of what is happening in this country. , prosecutors, and judges lead us down the path to destruction.” Trump (77) posted on Truth Social.
“Open borders, fraudulent elections, and grossly unfair court decisions are destroying America. We are a declining nation, a failed nation! MAGA2024”
Navalny’s death, 47, was announced by Russian authorities on Friday, four weeks before Russia’s presidential election. Observers predict the country’s presidential election will be rigged in favor of incumbent tyrant Vladimir Putin.
Trump did not mention Putin in his post, but he came under fire from rival Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and others for not condemning Nalvany’s death sooner.
“It’s amazing how weak he is in the knees when it comes to Putin,” Haley, 52, told “Fox & Friends” shortly before Trump’s post. Nothing about Navalny’s death, Putin killed him. ”
Haley, who served as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations for 23 months, also took issue with comments about NATO earlier this month in which the former president publicly questioned whether he would defend member states that fail to meet their financial obligations to the alliance. This infuriated my former boss. .
“We’re watching all these things happen and Trump is going on a late-night rant about his trial? He’s going to spend the rest of the year in court.” can’t be a distraction,” Haley added.
Mr. Trump faces 91 criminal charges spread across four indictments, the first of which, 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money, was filed on March 25. He is scheduled to go to trial in Manhattan.
The former president denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to all pending charges. On Friday, he was sentenced to a $350 million civil penalty for alleged business fraud, but that amount could rise to about $450 million with interest.
After Trump broke her silence on Navalny on Monday, Haley immediately admonished Trump for comparing Russia’s brutality to the United States.
“Donald Trump could have denounced Vladimir Putin as a thug. He could have praised Navalny’s courage. Instead, he could have denounced Navalny’s courage. “You stole a page, accused America and compared our country to Russia,” she scolded X.
Most Western officials President Biden and others criticized President Putin. Holding him “responsible” for Navalny’s death, the president warned that the Russian leader would face “catastrophic consequences” if he died in custody in 2021.
Russian authorities informed Navalny’s mother and lawyer that the cause of death was “sudden death syndrome.” According to Ivan Zhdanov, who runs the opposition Anti-Corruption Foundation,.
On Monday, Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya said in a statement that her late husband was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, the Putin regime’s favorite assassination tool.
There is a long history of opponents of the Russian president dying under suspicious circumstances, including falling out of windows.
In August, Wagner Group boss Evgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash. Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef”, led a failed uprising the previous June.
According to the German government, Navalny is believed to have been poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020. In the end, he survived and returned to Russia in January 2021.
Navalny was detained by authorities just two days after setting foot in Russia. He was sentenced to decades in prison on charges including embezzlement and extremism.
Western officials harshly criticized his sentence.
Trump is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination over former South Carolina Governor Haley.
