As of: February 18, 2024, 1:00 p.m
By: Marcus Giebel
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Attacks Donald Trump over the death of Alexei Navalny: Democrat Ted Lieu (r.) thinks that the ex-US President encouraged Russia.
© Screenshot MSNBC
Alexei Navalny dies a few days after a sensational NATO speech by Donald Trump.
A democratic politician does not believe in coincidence.
New York City – The still mysterious death of Alexei Navalny in a Siberian penal colony reached the US election campaign within just a few hours.
While the Kremlin critic's relatives are still searching for the body, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives is blaming former President Donald Trump for at least some of the blame.
Trump and the death of Navalny: Democratic representative sees guilt of the former US president
Ted Lieu, who has served in Congress for California since 2015, sees a connection between the likely Republican presidential candidate's recent warning to NATO countries and the death of Navalny.
The Taiwan-born politician highlighted this in the program “Alex Witts Reports” on
MSNBC
, as the news website
Mediaite
reveals with the corresponding TV clip.
At the beginning of the interview, Lieu was asked by the journalist what he thought about the fact that US President Joe Biden has already declared that Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin was responsible for Navalny's death and how the US should hold Russia accountable.
The 54-year-old then emphasized that everyone must first ask themselves the question, “why did Navalny die so suddenly at this point in time?”
He also agrees with Biden that Russia bears responsibility.
But then he moves on to a Trump appearance that resonated particularly in Europe.
“But what happened a few days before his death?” Lieu asks: “Well, that’s when former President Donald Trump basically said that Russia should attack European countries.
This is crazy, this is the language of traitors.”
In the video: World-famous Kremlin critic – who was Alexei Navalny?
Trump and the warning to NATO partners: “Russia has the feeling that it has been given the green light”
In fact, the former TV entrepreneur had warned the NATO states, as he had in the past - but this time with even more drastic words - against circumventing the defense alliance's financial rules.
He was asked by the “president of a large country” whether the USA, under his leadership, would protect it even if it did not pay for defense spending.
Trump claims to have denied this and followed up in his speech to fans: He would “even encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want.”
Words that don't leave much room for speculation given the war in Ukraine.
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According to Lieu's interpretation, they now also led to Navalny's death.
He concludes: “Russia has certainly heard this and I think they feel like they have been given the green light to do all the crazy things.
And if Trump were to become president, Putin would have even more leeway.”
Russia is already supporting terrorists.
The US State Department could label Putin's empire a "sponsor of terrorism."
That's why he advocates freezing Russian assets, selling them and handing over the proceeds to Ukraine.
Invited Russia to “do whatever the hell they want”: Former US President Donald Trump faces allegations in Alexei Navalny's death.
© TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
Trump's NATO speech as a trigger for Navalny's death?
According to Lieu, “quite a coincidence”
But Witt wants to go back to the first part of the answer and asks whether Lieu suspects a connection between Trump's warning and Navalny's death in captivity.
At the same time, the reporter points out that the Kremlin critic seemed to be in good spirits the day before when he spoke to his wife and joked with the guards, the judge and the lawyer.
“He looked absolutely fine.
And the next day he drops dead?” the 62-year-old decided.
“I think it's quite a coincidence,” replies Lieu, who accuses Trump of saying that his statements are not only crazy, “they dishonor our veterans and service members who fought in World War II and created this peaceful world order.
There was peace for many, many years.
And to say that you basically want to destroy NATO is crazy.”
Lieu was already known in the past for openly defying Trump.
He issued several press releases about the Republican's "alternative facts" during his presidency and later highlighted Trump's role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
He also appeared as one of the impeachment managers at the second impeachment trial and impressed with his presentations.
Now he is opposing his return to the White House in 2025.
(mg)