Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday called former President Trump “weak in the knees” on dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing to his silence in the wake of Alexei Navalny’s death — which many world leaders have blamed on Putin.
“Not at all,” Haley said in a Monday interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” when asked by Steve Doocy whether she and Trump were “on the same page when it comes to Russia.”
“I mean it’s amazing to me how weak in the knees he is when it comes to Putin. Because you look at the fact, he has yet to say anything about Navalny’s death,” Haley continued, quickly adding, “Putin murdered him. It’s what he does to his political opponents.”
Haley said Trump should be focusing more on global threats to U.S. security and instead, she said, he “doesn’t talk about anything. All he does is go on late-night rants talking about his court cases.”
“And, Steve, that’s the problem. We have Russia sitting there doing things. They’re now surrounding the Baltics, which, if they go in and invade the Baltics, that — those are NATO countries,” Haley said. “That puts America at war. We have to prevent war.”
“The focus we need to have is, how do we protect Americans? How do we prevent war? How do we get the border secure? How do we get our economy back on track? Not his personal grievances.”
Navalny, the high-profile Russian opposition leader, died in prison Friday, according to the Russian Federal Prison Service, which said Navalny’s death came after he lost consciousness following a walk. He was serving a 19-year sentence in the highest-security level prison near the Arctic Circle on charges of extremism, which Navalny and U.S. officials have dismissed as politically motivated.
The news sparked concerns of foul play from world leaders across the globe, and Haley is among the many public figures who have blamed Navalny’s death on Putin.
At a press conference on Friday, President Biden said, “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled,” adding that, while it was unclear what exactly precipitated the death on Friday, it certainly “was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Shortly after Haley’s interview on Fox News, Trump posted publicly on his Truth Social platform about Navalny’s death, tying the tragedy to his political grievances in the United States.
“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024,” Trump wrote.
In response to Haley’s interview, a spokesperson for Trump said in an emailed statement to The Hill, using Trump’s nickname for his primary opponent, “Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley is a loser who is boasting about taking ‘12 fellas down’ when she can even win one state in this election.”