Nikki Haley on Saturday called Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken Russian opposition leader, “a hero,” increasing pressure on former President Donald J. Trump to respond to news of his death. She said Mr. Navalny died at the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin and that Mr. Trump “must respond to that.”
Speaking to reporters before her rally at a park in Irmo, South Carolina, Ms. Haley praised Mr. Navalny for denouncing Mr. Putin for corruption and election rigging. She said he fled his country only to return “to fight the good fight.”
“And then he got arrested, and now Putin has done to him what Putin does to all his opponents — he kills them,” she said, before turning to Mr. Trump, her rival in the GOP primary. “And Trump has to answer that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him? And does he believe that Navalny was a hero?”
Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and United Nations ambassador under Mr. Trump, draws on her foreign policy experience and has long criticized her former boss for what she describes as his love of dictators and authoritarian leaders. She has only intensified the criticism of him as he heads into a February 24 primary in her home state.
Mr Trump has not yet publicly commented on Mr Navalny’s death. On Saturday, he attacked President Biden, saying in an online post: “I am the only one who can bring peace, prosperity and stability, just as I did in my first term.” America will be respected and feared again (if necessary!).”
On Friday, shortly after news of Ms. Navalny’s death broke, Ms. Haley went further than most Republicans when she attacked Mr. Trump over his past comments praising Mr. Putin. At her rallies since then, she has emphasized Mr. Trump’s close relationship with the Russian leader and sought to raise alarm over his suggestions that he would encourage Russian aggression against U.S. allies in Europe.
On Saturday, she also addressed the news that Russia is developing a nuclear space weapon with the potential to destroy satellites and called for preventing war in space.
Russian authorities announced on Friday that Mr. Navalny, who served several prison sentences in Russia, had died in a prison in the Arctic Circle. President Biden said that U.S. officials did not fully understand the circumstances but that he believed that “there is no doubt that Navalny’s death was a result of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
In Saturday’s press conference, Ms. Haley asked Mr. Trump, “Why does he always side with dictators?”
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2024-02-18 01:45:29
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