Back in January 2021, the Washington Post reported that Navalny had three criminal investigations going on against him, “all of them politically motivated” according to Navalny himself. Soon thereafter, President Joe Biden strongly condemned the imprisonment of Navalny as “politically motivated” and part of efforts by the Russian president to “suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
Biden also demanded Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release.
Such are things in totalitarian Russia. Now, fast forward to March 30, 2023 and the United States of America:
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s years-long investigation, possibly for hush money payments. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
This indictment is so obviously political, so blatantly an effort at stopping a political opponent to the sitting American president, that it is surprising there is even a debate over this.