Post by the Scribe on Feb 20, 2024 3:39:44 GMT
Trump breaks silence on Navalny, casts no blame on Putin
www.yahoo.com/news/trump-breaks-silence-navalny-casts-134238123.html
Doina Chiacu
Updated Mon, February 19, 2024 at 12:01 PM MST·3 min read
Former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on at a campaign event in Waterford Township, Michigan
By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump, who drew criticism as U.S. president for his praise of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, on Monday made his first public comment on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a social media post that cast no blame but alluded to his own legal woes.
"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country," the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination wrote on his Truth Social platform, appearing to link the death to his own political troubles.
"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"
It was not clear what similarities Trump was trying to draw with Russia's most prominent opposition leader. Navalny, 47, fought for years against what he called vast corruption in Putin's Russia, ruled by "crooks and thieves."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
Trump has railed against a judge's order on Friday that he pay $355 million in penalties for overstating his net worth to dupe lenders, a decision he called politically motivated. Trump also is preparing for four upcoming criminal trials as he pursues the Republican nomination.
President Joe Biden on Friday directly blamed Putin for Navalny's death in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, as did Trump's main Republican rival, Nikki Haley. "Putin is responsible for Navalny's death," Biden said.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in his death and said that Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.
Since Navalny's death was reported on Friday, former U.S. presidents and top members of Congress from both parties also denounced Putin.
But Trump, the Republican candidate leading the race to challenge Biden in the November election, remained silent until Monday.
During his 2017-2021 White House tenure, Trump expressed admiration for Putin. In 2018, he refused to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking criticism at home.
Last week, he suggested the United States might not protect NATO allies who do not spend enough on defense from a potential Russian invasion.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor who will face Trump as an underdog in her home state's presidential primary on Saturday, called Trump's response on Monday unpatriotic.
"Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage," she wrote on X. Instead, she said, he denounced America and compared it to Russia.
Campaigning in Sumter, South Carolina, later on Monday, Haley criticized Trump again over his NATO comments, saying, "He sided with a dictator who kills his political opponents."
Republican former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a vice chair of the congressional panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, recalled Trump's frequent promise to seek "retribution" against political opponents if he regains power.
"What Vladimir Putin did to Navalny is what retribution looks like in a country where the leader is not subject to the rule of law," Cheney said on Sunday.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, additional reporting by Nathan Layne in South Carolina; Editing by Scott Malone, Nick Macfie, Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)
COMMENTS
Putin’s leverage over Trump is financial. When Trump could not obtain domestic bank loans for his businesses from 2007–2010, Deutsche Bank (Moscow Branch) stepped in to fill the void. These loans were underwritten by the Russian state-owned VTB Bank.
"We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." - Eric Trump.
Reuters reported in 2017 that a group of 63 Russia billionaires had invested nearly $100 million in several Trump properties in Florida. In 2008, Trump Jr. told a real estate conference that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.” That same year, a Russian businessman paid the senior Trump $95 million for a Florida mansion — more than twice what Trump paid for it four years earlier.
The story about the Trump crime family's Russian connections came out in the Mueller Report and was public information, but Republicans didn't care and still don't. There is actual hard evidence of business ties between the Trumps and Russia that are met by Trump fans with a big yawn. And they're the ones complaining about a "double standard" in the justice system?
Trump is extremely compromised with the Russian System, Oligarchs, Putin and his Political system. Absolutely the Deutsche Bank used the Russian Oligarchs accounts to underwrite Trump loans and his debt to those Mafiosos is larger than any commitment he should have to the US ( in case he feel he has). Now the GOP is becoming also a Pro-Russian political Party and that is really dangerous for the National Security of the United States of America.
Which is why it boggles my mind how Trump has so much support behind him. He's been damaged goods since Day One. I mean I get it of you don't wanna support Dems on a policy level and had an upstanding guy to put forth - but Trump is just seriously broken - he's made no qualms of wanting be EXACTLY like Putin. Why give this one broken man so much influence over their party - it makes no sense.
Watch "Active Measures" on Amazon Prime on Hulu too. Its a documentary, and tells how in bed trump is with the russians. Its mindblowing.
5 russian Oligarchs own condo's in trump tower NY to start.
Yep. Is it any wonder that Mueller & his Russia investigation team were NOT allowed to look at Trump's finances, taxes nor interview Trump & his "crooked Ivanka"? The entire trump family is extreamely compromised!
Absolutely. donald is owned by the Russians. he did "business deals" ( otherwise known as money laundering for them ) in the 80's and the 90's. They helped bail him out of his bankruptcies when America's banks turned him down.
When Putin came along in 2000 he noted trump's abilities at self promotion and was aware of donald's money issues. The TV show The Apprentice appeared in 2004 and became quite popular making donald a star. Putin who had plans of his own needed a "friend" in the West. He had found his man in trump, plus he had the goods on him to boot. I am quite certain that there were a lot of discussions and coordination, dealmaking so to speak, as the 2016 elections approached between trump's closest advisors, trump, his family and Moscow. There were possibilities for trump to build in Moscow and other things bandied about. All this had actually been going on prior to that election, but donald was finally persuaded to dive in. by late 2015. The Russians pledged they would do all they could to help (and boy did they). The best of both worlds for donald : the potential to clean up financially 'like never before' and for him to find a prominent place in the history books for all time, something his ego always had craved. Our government has done a masterful job at hiding most of this from the public.
A Russian CEO won Trump's sneaker contest by paying over $9,000 dollars for a pair of Trump's new line of sneakers. The amount of money Russia is laundering into the GOP is astounding. The GOP is taking the money and betraying both Ukraine and our NATO allies. The US is in a lot of trouble.
www.yahoo.com/news/trump-breaks-silence-navalny-casts-134238123.html
Doina Chiacu
Updated Mon, February 19, 2024 at 12:01 PM MST·3 min read
Former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on at a campaign event in Waterford Township, Michigan
By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump, who drew criticism as U.S. president for his praise of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, on Monday made his first public comment on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a social media post that cast no blame but alluded to his own legal woes.
"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country," the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination wrote on his Truth Social platform, appearing to link the death to his own political troubles.
"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"
It was not clear what similarities Trump was trying to draw with Russia's most prominent opposition leader. Navalny, 47, fought for years against what he called vast corruption in Putin's Russia, ruled by "crooks and thieves."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
Trump has railed against a judge's order on Friday that he pay $355 million in penalties for overstating his net worth to dupe lenders, a decision he called politically motivated. Trump also is preparing for four upcoming criminal trials as he pursues the Republican nomination.
President Joe Biden on Friday directly blamed Putin for Navalny's death in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, as did Trump's main Republican rival, Nikki Haley. "Putin is responsible for Navalny's death," Biden said.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in his death and said that Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.
Since Navalny's death was reported on Friday, former U.S. presidents and top members of Congress from both parties also denounced Putin.
But Trump, the Republican candidate leading the race to challenge Biden in the November election, remained silent until Monday.
During his 2017-2021 White House tenure, Trump expressed admiration for Putin. In 2018, he refused to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking criticism at home.
Last week, he suggested the United States might not protect NATO allies who do not spend enough on defense from a potential Russian invasion.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor who will face Trump as an underdog in her home state's presidential primary on Saturday, called Trump's response on Monday unpatriotic.
"Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage," she wrote on X. Instead, she said, he denounced America and compared it to Russia.
Campaigning in Sumter, South Carolina, later on Monday, Haley criticized Trump again over his NATO comments, saying, "He sided with a dictator who kills his political opponents."
Republican former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a vice chair of the congressional panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, recalled Trump's frequent promise to seek "retribution" against political opponents if he regains power.
"What Vladimir Putin did to Navalny is what retribution looks like in a country where the leader is not subject to the rule of law," Cheney said on Sunday.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, additional reporting by Nathan Layne in South Carolina; Editing by Scott Malone, Nick Macfie, Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)
COMMENTS
Putin’s leverage over Trump is financial. When Trump could not obtain domestic bank loans for his businesses from 2007–2010, Deutsche Bank (Moscow Branch) stepped in to fill the void. These loans were underwritten by the Russian state-owned VTB Bank.
"We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia." - Eric Trump.
Reuters reported in 2017 that a group of 63 Russia billionaires had invested nearly $100 million in several Trump properties in Florida. In 2008, Trump Jr. told a real estate conference that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.” That same year, a Russian businessman paid the senior Trump $95 million for a Florida mansion — more than twice what Trump paid for it four years earlier.
The story about the Trump crime family's Russian connections came out in the Mueller Report and was public information, but Republicans didn't care and still don't. There is actual hard evidence of business ties between the Trumps and Russia that are met by Trump fans with a big yawn. And they're the ones complaining about a "double standard" in the justice system?
Trump is extremely compromised with the Russian System, Oligarchs, Putin and his Political system. Absolutely the Deutsche Bank used the Russian Oligarchs accounts to underwrite Trump loans and his debt to those Mafiosos is larger than any commitment he should have to the US ( in case he feel he has). Now the GOP is becoming also a Pro-Russian political Party and that is really dangerous for the National Security of the United States of America.
Which is why it boggles my mind how Trump has so much support behind him. He's been damaged goods since Day One. I mean I get it of you don't wanna support Dems on a policy level and had an upstanding guy to put forth - but Trump is just seriously broken - he's made no qualms of wanting be EXACTLY like Putin. Why give this one broken man so much influence over their party - it makes no sense.
Watch "Active Measures" on Amazon Prime on Hulu too. Its a documentary, and tells how in bed trump is with the russians. Its mindblowing.
5 russian Oligarchs own condo's in trump tower NY to start.
Yep. Is it any wonder that Mueller & his Russia investigation team were NOT allowed to look at Trump's finances, taxes nor interview Trump & his "crooked Ivanka"? The entire trump family is extreamely compromised!
Absolutely. donald is owned by the Russians. he did "business deals" ( otherwise known as money laundering for them ) in the 80's and the 90's. They helped bail him out of his bankruptcies when America's banks turned him down.
When Putin came along in 2000 he noted trump's abilities at self promotion and was aware of donald's money issues. The TV show The Apprentice appeared in 2004 and became quite popular making donald a star. Putin who had plans of his own needed a "friend" in the West. He had found his man in trump, plus he had the goods on him to boot. I am quite certain that there were a lot of discussions and coordination, dealmaking so to speak, as the 2016 elections approached between trump's closest advisors, trump, his family and Moscow. There were possibilities for trump to build in Moscow and other things bandied about. All this had actually been going on prior to that election, but donald was finally persuaded to dive in. by late 2015. The Russians pledged they would do all they could to help (and boy did they). The best of both worlds for donald : the potential to clean up financially 'like never before' and for him to find a prominent place in the history books for all time, something his ego always had craved. Our government has done a masterful job at hiding most of this from the public.
A Russian CEO won Trump's sneaker contest by paying over $9,000 dollars for a pair of Trump's new line of sneakers. The amount of money Russia is laundering into the GOP is astounding. The GOP is taking the money and betraying both Ukraine and our NATO allies. The US is in a lot of trouble.