Former U.S. President Donald Trump made comments regarding the death of Alexei Navalny, calling him “a very brave man” but suggesting he shouldn’t have returned to Russia. Trump refrained from assigning blame for Navalny’s death and compared his legal troubles to Navalny’s persecution. Despite Western leaders blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death, Trump didn’t echo these accusations.
Instead, he implied that politically motivated prosecutions were a commonality between himself and Navalny. Trump also expressed concerns about the state of democracy in the United States, likening it to a communist country, and criticized the criminal charges against him as politically motivated. His comments on Navalny’s death and broader political issues were made during a town hall interview with Fox News in South Carolina, where he also discussed other topics such as immigration and potential running mates for his presidential bid.