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Trump Publicly Calls For China And Ukraine To Investigate Bidens

By: Franco Ordoñez | NPR
Posted on: Thursday, October 3, 2019

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President Trump now says China should investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Trump brought up China, just days before restarting trade talks with Beijing, while answering questions about his call with his Ukrainian counterpart and what specifically he hoped Ukraine would do about the Biden family.

“If they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into Bidens,” Trump said. “It’s a very simple answer … And by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as Ukraine.”

The allegations relate to Hunter Biden joining the board of an investment firm with Chinese ties while his father was vice president. Trump has not shared any evidence of wrongdoing.

In a statement Thursday, Joe Biden called Trump’s remarks “a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over the country.”

The president’s remarks Thursday are a significant escalation of events in the Ukraine matter. He’s doubling down on wanting foreign governments to investigate the former vice president, who is a leading challenger to Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He’s also calling on China, which is run by an authoritarian government, to investigate a U.S. citizen.

The transcript of Trump’s call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a subsequent whistleblower complaint about the call helped lead to House Democrats launching an impeachment inquiry into whether he wrongfully used the power of his office to pressure a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political rival.

According to a transcript of the July 25 call, Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and Hunter Biden. The president has described his call with the Ukrainian leader as “perfect.”