Haley pounces on Trump: 'Hasn’t said a word' about Putin after death of Russian activist

17 February 2024

Former President Donald Trump has been noticeably silent about the sudden death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whom Russian media said died in prison on Friday.

Now, as Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis observed, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is ramping up her attacks on her old boss, suggesting he's in thrall to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends," Haley tweeted in response to news of Navalny's death. "The same Trump who said: 'In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven't seen that.'"

"Putin murdered his political opponent and Trump hasn’t said a word after he said he would encourage Putin to invade our allies," she wrote in a separate post. "He has, however, posted 20+ times on social media about his legal drama and fake polls."

As Haley reminded her followers, the former president recently told an audience in South Carolina that he "would encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want" to NATO allies who he feels aren't contributing enough money to bolster NATO's defense capabilities. This would be a direct violation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that all member nations are required to back any other member state that gets attacked.

Trump's comments were blasted by retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who told British newspaper The Times that the ex-president "couldn't care less about moral obligations" and that "he's willing to chuck the whole thing away," referring to NATO.

"In his last term, he did have people around him who were able to moderate certain things, at least for a period of time," Hodges said. "He won't make that same mistake again."

The South Carolina Republican primary will be held next Saturday. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump in a comfortable lead with 63% support.

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