Nikki Haley on Saturday said the death of “hero” Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny demands a response from former President Donald Trump.
She said the outspoken Navalny had died at the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin and her former boss Trump needed to “answer to that,” the New York Times reports.
Haley made her call while speaking with reporters outside her rally at a park in Irmo, S.C., praising Navalny for calling out Putin for corruption and fixing elections.
She said the staunch Kremlin critic had fled the land of his birth only to return “to fight the good fight.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is introduced during a campaign rally in Irmo. South Carolina Republicans vote in their presidential primary on February 25. (Sean Rayford/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“And then he was arrested, and now Putin has done to him what Putin does to all of his opponents — he kills them,” she said, before turning on Trump, her rival in the G.O.P. primary.
“And Trump needs to answer to that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him? And does he think Navalny was a hero?”
As Breitbart News reported, political prisoner Navalny died Friday while serving a 19-year prison sentence at an Arctic penal colony.
Putin Critic, Russian Opposition Leader Alexi Navalny Dies in Arctic Penal Colony Says Russia https://t.co/OTrJFtN5rI
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 16, 2024
Navalny, 47, had been branded a “terrorist and extremist” by the Russian government and convicted of several crimes, which he maintained were hollow and politically motivated.
Trump has not yet commented publicly on Navalny’s death.
