Trump Again Compares Legal Troubles to Navalny Death

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Facts

  • Former US Pres. Donald Trump on Tuesday during a pre-taped town hall with Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham called his four criminal indictments 'a form of Navalny' and a 'form of communism, of fascism.'1
  • Trump began his response to a question about Alexei Navalny - the Russian opposition leader who was found dead in a remote arctic prison last week - by calling Navalny's death 'a horrible thing.' But he then drew the comparison between himself and Navalny.1
  • Trump went on to say that what happened to Navalny is 'happening in our country too' and that the US is 'turning into a communist country in many ways.'2
  • In addition to the four criminal indictments, Trump last week in New York was ordered to pay $355M in fines as part of a fraud judgment against him and his business. He previously was ordered to pay $83.3M in the sexual assault and defamation of magazine writer E. Jean Carroll.3
  • Trump's comments Tuesday follow a Monday social media post in which he said Navalny's death has made him 'more and more aware' that 'crooked, radical left politicians, prosecutors, and judges' are leading the US 'down a path to destruction.'3
  • Although the Kremlin denies that Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin was involved in Navalny's death, several Western leaders - including US Pres. Joe Biden - have implicated the Russian leader.4

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2FOX News, 3Newsweek and 4Independent.

Narratives

  • Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Townhall. Anti-Trump forces in the US have been weaponizing the justice system against the former president ever since he won the 2016 election. And their lawfare has gone beyond Trump to deliver harsh sentences for nonviolent acts to his allies and supporters. If Biden has his way, Trump will be imprisoned until he dies just like Navalny.
  • Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by CNN. Trump's audacity in comparing his plight to that of Navalny - who returned to Russia knowing the odds were he would wind up a martyr - is horrifying. Unlike Navalny, Trump has been granted all the constitutional privileges and safeguards of the justice system. If anything, Trump and his dictatorial tendencies compare favorably to Putin's authoritarianism.