Trump again compares himself to Navalny as he discusses legal issues

Former President Donald J. Trump continued to compare himself to Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny during a town hall in South Carolina on Tuesday, at one point directly comparing a civil fraud verdict against him to the case of an anti-corruption activist who died in a Russian prison last week.

Midway through the town hall, the host, Fox News' Laura Ingraham, asked Trump how he would come up with the $450 million fine imposed by a New York judge last week.

“It's a form of – Navalny,” Trump said. “It's a form of communism or fascism.”

The comment came after a lengthy discussion in which Mr. Trump continued to suggest that his legal travails were somehow equivalent to those of Mr. Navalny, a staunch opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia who was politically persecuted and imprisoned on charges that supporters believed were fabricated in an attempt to silence him.

Mr. Trump did not specifically address Mr. Navalny's death until Monday, when he posted on social media that the situation was reminiscent of his legal troubles. The former president faces four criminal charges, all of which he has attributed to President Biden, although Mr. Biden has no oversight over them.

During the town hall, Ms. Ingraham asked Mr. Trump to address these comments. The former president praised Mr Navalny for his courage, calling his death “very sad” and saying Mr Navalny “was a very brave man”. He also expressed his belief that Mr Navalny – who returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he was recovering from a poisoning – would have been better served by “staying away and talking from outside the country”.

But Mr Trump then said that what happened to Mr Navalny “also happened in our country”. He then listed his four charges, which he said were “all due to the fact that I am in politics.”

Ms. Ingraham then continued by asking Mr. Trump if he saw himself as a “potential political prisoner.” Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the criminal cases against him are part of a plot to keep him from winning a second term, appeared to confirm her.

“If I lost at the polls, they wouldn't even talk about me,” Trump said.

Yet Mr. Trump has not condemned Mr. Putin, who has drawn widespread condemnation and speculation from officials, including Mr. Biden, that he or the Russian government may have had a hand in Mr. Navalny's death.

During the town hall, he praised the Russian army, which is invading Ukraine, for its competence.

“You're really taking on the war machine in Russia,” Trump said. 'Russia, what have they done? They defeated Hitler, they defeated Napoleon. Yes, it is a war machine.”

Mr. Trump has opposed providing more military aid to Ukraine, and he has vowed to end the war if elected president, though he has been vague on the details other than citing his relationship with Mr. Putin .

When Ms. Ingraham was asked about his opposition to supporting Ukraine, Mr. Trump again emphasized that the invasion would not have happened if he had won re-election in 2020, then said he would encourage European leaders to provide more aid to Ukraine to provide.