Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who during his tenure faced criticism for his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, commented Monday on the death in prison of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for the first time. Unlike all Western leaders, Trump refrained from directing any blame toward Putin. In a bizarre post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump made an unclear link between Navalny's death and the situation in the United States.
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"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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!" In his post, Trump failed to condemn Navalny's death in prison or mention Putin's name.
It remains unclear what comparison Trump was trying to show between himself or what is happening in the U.S. and the circumstances of Navalny's death. The Russian opposition leader, who died at the age of 47, fought for years against Putin and his corrupt regime. Navalny even survived a poisoning attempt in 2020, which he blamed on the Russian government even though he knew he would be arrested, and later was convicted of various charges and sent to prison for dozens of years.
In a statement concerning his death issued on Friday, senior Russian officials claimed that he died of a sudden heart attack and blood clot, but Navalny's supporters are sure he was murdered, and paramedics claimed that his body bore signs of assault. On Monday, his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said he was poisoned with the Novichok agent, the same one used in the attempted poisoning in 2020.
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Yulia Navalnaya is convinced her husband was poisoned by the Novichok agent
(Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP)
Navalny's family and friends say that the Russian authorities refuse to hand over his body, and on Monday his allies announced that the investigator responsible for handling the body informed them that the examination would take 14 days.
Trump's response follows a court order to pay a fine of $355 million for inflated and false financial statements, through which he and his company allegedly attempted to lead a bank and insurance companies to bankruptcy over the years. Trump claimed that the imposition of the fine stems from political motives. Later this year, he is expected to stand trial on three additional indictments, including attempting to manipulate the results of the 2020 elections, and he will be tried as he wages a campaign for the U.S. presidency.
U.S. President Joe Biden directly blamed Putin on Friday for Navalny's death, as did Nikki Haley, Trump's last rival for the Republican presidential nomination. After Trump's bizarre post, Haley called him out: "Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage. Instead, he stole a page from liberals’ playbook, denouncing America and comparing our country to Russia."
Trump's attitude toward Putin arouses suspicion among many in the West, especially when he expressed admiration for the Russian president during his presidency. In 2018, he refused to blame Putin for attempting to influence the results of the 2016 elections, undermining Washington's intelligence agencies. Last week, Trump hinted that if he returns to the White House the United States may not engage to assist NATO's European allies if Russia invades them, a statement that raised great concern in Europe.