Trump mentions Navalny ... but that's it - POLITICO - POLITICO

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday. | Paul Sancya/AP Photo

By Kierra Frazier

02/19/2024 10:14 AM EST

Updated: 02/19/2024 04:02 PM EST

Seventy-two hours following the death of Alexei Navalny, Donald Trump made his first comments on the death of the Russian opposition leader Monday but stopped short of condemning anyone or offering sympathy.

Instead, the former president related his own legal woes to the death of Navalny, who died in prison on Friday at the age of 47. Trump on Friday was ordered to pay a $354.8 million penalty payment as part of civil fraud trial decision.

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday. “It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024.”

President Joe Biden and Trump’s remaining primary opponent in the 2024 presidential race, Nikki Haley, have directly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death. Haley pointed out over the weekend how Trump has stayed silent on Navalny’s death and called for the former president to “answer whether he thinks Putin is responsible for Navalny.”

“It’s amazing to me how weak in the knees he is when it comes to Putin, because you look at the fact he has yet to say anything about Navalny’s death,” Haley said on “Fox and Friends” on Monday.

“He’s yet to say anything about seizing Russian assets and allowing that money to go to Ukraine, why would you not want to have those assets seized? It’s sitting in Congress, he should be calling for that. He doesn’t talk about anything. All he does is go on late-night rants talking about his court cases.”

Trump has often spoken warmly of Putin, whom he has called “pretty smart,” and in 2018, he publicly sided with Putin instead of the U.S. intelligence community in discussing interference in the 2016 elections. Trump told supporters last week at a rally, “President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually,” in reference to Putin’s stated preference for another Biden term.

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