Democratic Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin said it was "sickening" that former Republican President Donald Trump compared himself to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The outspoken human rights activist was a prisoner of conscience and a vocal critic of Russian autocratic leader Vladimir Putin and his government.
Navalny died last week while in custody at a Russian penal colony at the age of 47.
Although a report on Navalny's death stated "natural causes," it is widely believed the anti-corruption activist was assassinated as part of a plot orchestrated by Putin.
In response to the series of legal cases against him, Trump said at a recent town hall in South Carolina that his plight was a "form of Navalny" and he further commented on how the U.S. was turning "communist."
When CNN asked Raskin his thoughts on Trump's statements, the Congressman stated:
“Donald Trump’s hero, Vladimir Putin, is responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, who was a champion of freedom and human rights, and he opposed the filthy, bloody imperialist invasion of Ukraine, which Donald Trump is, at best, very soft on."
Raskin continued:
“In fact, he’s Putin’s biggest ally in the United States and is responsible for now the pro-Putin sentiment within the GOP."
“So to compare himself to Navalny is sickening.”
You can watch a clip here.
Raskin said that Navalny's widow Yulia Navalny would vehemently disagree with Trump.
The lawmaker went on to state that Trump was a “friend to every dictator and autocrat on earth from Vladimir Putin to Viktor Orbán, to Marcos, to Bolsonaro.”
Raskin continued saying of the former twice-impeached President:
"He is a friend to right-wing autocrats, kleptocrats, theocrats all over the world, and to associate himself with Novalny is appalling."
"Donald Trump has had every benefit of the rule of law and the American legal system. He's spent millions of dollars of other people's money on his lawyers."
Raskin noted that Trump had "more due process" in all of his criminal or civil cases, including the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault case.
Trump was ordered by Judge Arthur Engoron to pay $354 million in damages in the civil fraud trial against him plus about $100 million in interest, and was barred from operating businesses in New York for three years.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the case, stated:
“Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud."
"Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law."
James called the ruling “a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules—even former presidents.”
Trump, who called the Judge "crooked" and the Attorney General “corrupt", plans to appeal and he boasted that he and his team will be "successful."
When asked at the town hall in South Carolina ahead of the state's Republican primary how Trump would pay the $354 million penalty, he replied:
"It is a form of Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism."
And when asked if he viewed himself as a "potential political prisoner," the GOP primary frontrunner responded:
"If I were losing in the polls, they wouldn't even be talking about me. And I wouldn't have had any legal fees."
