Following news of Navalny's death, Haley attacks Trump for past praise for Putin

Many Republicans lined up Friday to condemn President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia after Russian authorities reported the death of Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken opposition leader.

But Nikki Haley went further, using criticism of Putin to attack former President Donald J. Trump, her rival in the Republican primaries, for his past comments praising Putin.

“Putin did this. The same Putin who praises and defends Donald Trump,” wrote Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. on the social media platform X on Friday.

She was referring to comments Mr Trump made in 2015, during his first attempt to become president he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that: “In fairness to Putin, you say he killed people. I didn't see that.”

Russian authorities announced Friday that Mr. Navalny, an anti-corruption activist who was openly critical of Mr. Putin and served multiple sentences that would likely have kept him in prison until 2031, had died in a prison inside the Arctic Circle. President Biden said Friday afternoon that U.S. officials did not have a full understanding of the circumstances of the situation, but that he believed “there is no doubt that Navalny's death was a result of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Mr. Trump has not yet publicly commented on Mr. Navalny's death, prompting Ms. Haley to also take advantage of his silence. In another message to X, she wrote: “Putin killed his political opponent and Trump didn't say a word after saying he would encourage Putin to invade our allies. However, he has posted more than 20 times on social media about his legal drama and fake polls.”

Since reports of Mr. Navalny's death surfaced Friday morning, Mr. Trump has posted messages on Truth Social criticizing Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor in his Georgia election interference case; said the world had “experienced misery, destruction and death” during Mr Biden's term in office; and promoted his appearance at “Sneakercon” in Philadelphia on Saturday. But as of Friday afternoon, there was no longer any mention of Mr. Putin or Mr. Navalny.

Ms. Haley has become increasingly critical of Mr. Trump's approach to foreign policy, and in particular his attitude toward Mr. Putin. She told voters at recent stops in South Carolina that Mr. Trump had “sided with a criminal,” after the former president said in South Carolina last weekend that he might “encourage” Russia to attack NATO allies who have made arrears to the army. alliance.

Her campaign released a statement later on Friday that attempted to further connect Trump's previous praise with his recent comments.

“Donald Trump continues to side with Vladimir Putin – a man who kills his political opponents, takes American journalists hostage and has never hidden his desire to destroy America,” Ms Haley said. “Trump continues to side with Putin over our allies and our military service members.”