Former President Donald Trump finally issued a comment on the death in an Arctic prison of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny – using the occasion to blast 'grossly unfair' court decisions in the U.S. Trump had faced public criticism for his failure to issue a statement following Navalny's death in an Arctic Circle penal colony . He had been transferred to a series of prisons and put repeatedly into solitary confinement following his return his home country following a poisoning attempt using a nerve agent.

'The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Monday. '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'

Although he didn't specifically connect his post to his own legal situation, it came 15 minutes after he tore into the 'CROOKED, HAND PICKED JUDGE' who ordered him to pay $355 million following his New York fraud trial. Trump's statement notably did not specifically condemn Navalny's death and prison. it comes after President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'responsible.' A series of world leaders demanded Putin must pay for the death of the 47-year-old in prison, with the president of Latvia saying he was 'brutally murdered.'

Critics had pounced on Trump's silence following Navalny's death, which followed years of statements on his desire to 'get a long with Russia ' under President Vladimir Putin . Trump at a rally this month once again tore into NATO allies who failed to meet an agreed upon $2 per cent threshold on defense spending – then said he would encourage Russia to invade nations he casts as deadbeats . 'No, I would not protect you,' Trump said. 'In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.'

Trump's remaining GOP primary rival Nikki Haley went after Trump for his silence Monday morning in an interview on 'Fox and Friends.' '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 which Putin murdered him. It's what he does to his political opponents,' she said.

She had also hit Trump on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday, accusing Trump of taking sides with Putin, one of whose top allies threatened nuclear attacks on Washington if Russia doesn't succeed on the battlefield against Ukraine. 'Either he sides with Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents – or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal,' she said. 'Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem,' Haley said.

In the immediate aftermath of reports of Navalny's death, Trump took to Truth Social to complain about AI-generated images of him golfing that were manipulated to make him look overweight, while going after Biden for his visit to East Palestine, Ohio. Trump continues to poll well against Biden nationally, and has mostly avoided condemnations from within his own party for his stance on Russia as skepticism grows among House Republicans for U.S. military backing for Ukraine.

'A broad coalition of political forces in the U.S., ranging from Mike Pence on the right to Bernie Sanders on the left, is anti-Putin. Against them stand Donald Trump and some of his acolytes, who are pro-Putin,' wrote conservative Trump critic William Kristol and Andrew Eggar in the Bulwark Monday.

'The likely nominee of one of our two major political parties is pro-Vladimir Putin. This is an astonishing fact. It is an appalling fact. It has to be a central fact of the 2024 campaign ... Which is all the more reason to hang Putin around Trump’s neck. It could well make Trump a harder sell to some number of swing voters,' they advise. President Biden said congressional Republicans were making a 'bid mistake' if they don't act on the $60 billion in U.S. support for Ukraine that has already passed the Senate.

'They’re making a big mistake by not responding. They way they’re walking away from the threat of Russia, they way they’re walking away from NATO. They way they're walking away from meeting our obligations. It's just shocking ... I've never seen anything like it,' Biden said at the White House Monday after returning from Delaware. He said he hoped Navalny's death might make a difference withe Republicans, and said the administration was considering additional sanctions on Russia. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13100557/trump-alexei-navalny-death-putin-court-rulings.html?ito=msngallery

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