Former President Donald Trump recently compared the $350 million verdict against him to the recent death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. During a discussion with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, the GOP presidential candidate began, “Navalny is a very sad situation and he’s very brave, he was a very brave guy.”

“He went back, he could have stayed away, and frankly probably would have been a lot better off staying away and talking from outside of the country as opposed to having to go back in, because people thought that could happen, and it did happen,” he added before pointing out that what happened to Navalny is happening in the United States too.

Asserting that the country is “turning into a communist country in many ways,” he stated, “I’m the leading candidate, and I got indicted four times … I have eight or nine trials all because of the fact that I’m in politics. They indicted me with things that are so ridiculous.”

“It is a form of Navalny. It is a form of communism, of fascism,” he added.

Trump’s remarks came days after New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him and the Trump organization to pay over $350 million in damages for inflating his net worth to get favorable loans.

Before his Fox News’ appearance, the GOP frontrunner took to Truth Social to say that Navalny’s death made him “more and more aware of what is happening in our Country.”

“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,” he wrote.

While Navalny’s death was seen as suspicious by many including President Joe Biden, his Truth Social remarks earned him criticism from his GOP rival and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley who said he took his claims from the “liberals’ playbook.”

“Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage. Instead, he stole a page from liberals’ playbook, denouncing America and comparing our country to Russia,” she wrote on X, alongside a screenshot of Trump’s post.

Some other politicians also criticized Trump for failing to call out Putin who saw to the persecution of Nalvany for standing up to his leadership.