Donald Trump Makes Alexei Navalny's Death About Himself

Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally on February 17, 2024, in Waterford, Michigan.

Former President Donald Trump spoke out about the death of Alexei Navalny online on Monday, but he made it about himself, saying that the jailed Russian opposition leader’s death “has made me more and more aware” of “crooked, radical left politicians, prosecutors, and judges leading us down a path to destruction.”

The Context

Navalny’s death was reported by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service on Friday. He was being held in an Arctic penal colony when he felt unwell after a walk, “lost consciousness almost immediately” and died shortly afterward, the prison service said in a statement.

Navalny, who was 47, was serving a 19-year sentence under fraud and contempt of court charges after being jailed in February 2021. His charges are widely viewed as politically motivated as he was seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest critic.

What We Know

While leaders around the world mourned Navalny over the weekend, Trump, the GOP front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination, remained silent. His critics, including Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, slammed the former president for not answering to Navalny’s death.

On Monday morning, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. 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.”

Trump has four criminal indictments against him, all of which he has plead not guilty to, and recently was ordered to pay an $83.3 million defamation lawsuit and a $355 million fraud lawsuit, both in New York. The former president maintains his innocence in all cases and claims they are politically motivated.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.

The Views

On Friday, President Joe Biden said at the White House that he was “outraged” but “not surprised” by Navalny’s death. “Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said, adding that it was “more proof of Putin’s brutality.”

A reporter asked Biden if Navalny was assassinated, to which he replied, “We don’t know exactly what happened.” He added: “But there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

What’s Next?

Navalny’s family is trying to retrieve his body, claiming that the Kremlin is avoiding handing over the body. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, that Navalny’s mother and lawyer visited a morgue in Salekhard to find it closed, despite assurances from the prison colony that it was working and Navalny’s body was there. In a follow-up post, Yarmysh said: “It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body.”

In another post on Monday, Yarmysh wrote: “The investigators told the lawyers and Alexey’s mother that they would not give them the body. The body will be under some sort of ‘chemical examination’ for another 14 days.”

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, urged Russians to “keep fighting” on Monday in a video message: “Stronger, more fiercely and valiantly that we did before. We all need to get together in one strong fist and strike that mad regime, Putin, his cronies, bandits in epaulets, thieves and killers who mutilated our country,” she said.

Update 2/19/24, 11 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

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