Recently, California Rep. Ted Lieu and MSNBC host Alex Witt entertained a theory that former President Donald Trump was somehow responsible for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The two discussed a theory that comments Trump made toward NATO had prompted Navalny’s death.
Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member and the leader of the Russia of the Future party. Navalny was serving a three-decade prison sentence in an Arctic prison before dying last week. During the interview on MSNBC’s “Alex Witt Reports,” the California representative was asked about the timing of Navalny’s death. The host also pointed out that President Biden has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the incident. “It’s quite a coincidence,” Lieu said about the timing of the opposition leader’s demise.
“Let’s begin with the death of the Russian leader, Alexei Navalny. It was in a Siberian prison, as you know. President Biden says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for his death,” Witt said during the interview. “First of all, what are your thoughts about this and how, if we can, should the U.S. hold Russia responsible?”
Lieu responded by seemingly assigning blame to Donald Trump. “I think we have to ask ourselves, why did Navalny all of a sudden die at this point in time?” he said, noting where Trump’s comments fit into the timeline of his death.
While Lieu ultimately blamed Russia for the political figure’s death, he proceeded to explicitly call out Trump, implying the leading GOP candidate’s comments on foreign politics may have played a role in the controversy. “I first of all, agree with President Biden that Russia is responsible for his death. Also, what happened in a few days leading up to his death?” said Lieu. “Well, we had former President Donald Trump essentially say that Russia should attack European countries.”
The representative referred to the former president’s comments at a recent rally where Trump called out NATO allies for not contributing sufficient financial resources. Trump suggested that the United States should pull back its commitments if nations didn’t pay their dues. “That is crazy. That is traitorous language. Russia certainly was listening, and I think they thought, hey, we now have a green light to do all sorts of crazy stuff,” Lieu said about Trump’s comments.
Witt pressed Lieu if he was suggesting that Trump’s NATO statements had emboldened Putin. “Because to your other point, the day before he died, he looked to be in perfectly good health. He’d spoken with his wife. He appeared via zoom, in some sort of a legal arrangement that he had to do there. We’re looking at pictures right there. He was joking with the guards, joking with the judge or an attorney there. He looked absolutely fine,” the host said. “The next day drops dead?”
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Lieu added further context to his claims about Trump’s statements, suggesting that Putin was intently listening to Trump’s rhetoric. “I think it’s quite a coincidence. And certainly Russia is listening to what the former president is saying. He’s saying crazy stuff.”
Watch their conversation here: