Nikki Haley Unloads On Trump Over Navalny’s Death: ‘Putin Did This. The Same Putin Who Donald Trump Praises’
Oliver Contreras/SIPA USA (Sipa via AP Images)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley blasted her boss turned rival Donald Trump over his praise of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Friday, shortly after it was announced that Alexei Navalny had died in a Russian prison.
“Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends. The same Trump who said: “In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that,” wrote Haley in a post on X.
Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends.
The same Trump who said:
“In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that.” https://t.co/o1v3wBz1t7— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 16, 2024
Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition leader who was poisoned by Putin in 2020 but nevertheless returned to Russia to be imprisoned the following year, was 47 years old.
Trump has a long history of praising Putin, dating back to 2013. The comments referenced by Haley were made in 2015. “I haven’t seen the names,” said Trump at the time.
Trump raised eyebrows again in 2017 when he defended Putin after Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly derided him as a “killer.’
“There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” asked Trump in return.
Just two days before Navalny’s death, Haley’s campaign made mock Valentine’s Day cards addressed from Trump to various dictators using the former president’s own words.
“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory. The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing…” read the one addressed to Putin.
“Kim wrote me beautiful letters and they’re great letters. We fell in love,” read another for North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Haley has previously accused Trump of being “obsessed with these dictators.”
