Former President Donald Trump during a Tuesday night Fox News town hall compared the multi-million dollar ruling in his New York civil fraud trial to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“It is a form of Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism,” Trump said.
Judge Arthur Engoron, whom Trump called a "nut job," last week imposed a $355 million ruling and a three-year ban on Trump from serving as an executive at any New York company, including his own.
“People thought that could happen and it did happen,” Trump said, speaking about Navalny’s death. “And it’s a horrible thing.”
As noted by Politico, earlier in the town hall, Trump called the anti-Kremlin activist a “very brave guy," claiming that he “probably would have been a lot better off staying away" from Russia and "talking from outside.” The ex-president's Tuesday night remarks came on the heels of a Truth Social post he shared on Monday, in which he conflated Navalny's sudden passing — which many have speculated was carried out by Russian President Vladimir Putin — to his own legal and political woes.
“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” the former president wrote. “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." The former president reiterated that message as part of his town hall appearance, alleging that the emotion surrounding Navalny's death is "happening here" and that his legal plights are “all because of the fact that I’m in politics.”
Following the airing of Trump's town hall, former South Carolina governor and Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley wrote on X/Twitter: "Donald Trump compares America to Russia again. That’s not America First. That’s the kind of garbage you hear from liberals." In a separate Fox interview on Tuesday, Haley referred to Navalny as “a hero who challenged Putin, lost his life because of it,” per Politico. She added, “This is on the heels of Trump saying that he would encourage Putin to invade any NATO countries that didn’t pull their weight. He’s gonna compare himself to Navalny, and the victim that he is in his court cases?”
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